Finding Strength Within
by iBeansprout
Summary: Tohru Harima, a young fourteen year old girl, becomes a member of DATS after befriending an injured Digimon in hopes of overcoming her personal insecurities and bettering herself as a person. With all the twists and turns life will throw at her, she must find the strength within herself to bear with the pain and heartache it will bring. [MasaruxOC, TohmaxOC]
1. A Chance Encounter

Finding Strength Within || Digimon Savers/Data Squad

.::||Chapter One: Chance Encounter||::.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Savers or its characters. I only own my OCs.**

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><p>A breathy sigh left the lips of a rather impatient looking teenage girl seated on one of the few benches located in the local park. Tohru Harima, the girl in question, had arrived at the park around noon and hadn't moved from her spot for the past two hours. The fourteen year old brunette had made plans with her best friend to meet up at this very park to hang out, however he had yet to arrive. Needless to say, Tohru was more than a bit peeved by the lack of his presence.<p>

"Where is he…? He promised to meet me around noon so…what gives?" Tohru wondered aloud with a tone dripping with frustration, but underneath that was a hint of concern. Another sigh escaped her throat, one hand being brought up to cover a majority of her face in an action that most would consider to be a face palm. Leaning back against the bench, her head craned upwards so she could gaze up at the clear blue sky. Fluffy white clouds drifted in a slow and steady pace high above her, the sun casting its rays down on everything on this peaceful afternoon. Summer had ended with the coming of a new school year, but the heat of the previous season still lingered for the month of September before it was to be cast away to welcome the coming of Autumn.

"He's probably off fighting local thugs again." The corners of her thin lips twitched upwards as a chuckle sounded from her throat, emerald eyes closing as thoughts of her best guy friend crossed her mind. He was a hot blooded youth with a love of plowing his fists into peoples' faces and never passed up the opportunity to accept a challenge from another fighter. Sometimes she had to wonder if there was anything else that he thought about other than beating people to a pulp.

Oh wait…there was. Food.

Tohru let out a snort and giggled at the thought of her best friend stuffing his face, a smile of pure amusement gracing her features. However, this was short lived as the smile faded, her thoughts going back to the matter at hand. This was strange. He usually never left her hanging when they planned to hang out, so what the hell was going on? Could it be that he simply forgot? To be honest, she wouldn't be all that surprised if that were the case.

Another ten minutes of pointless mulling over where her friend was and why he was so late and the typical 'what ifs' that plagued the mind of any worry wart, there was still no sign of her hot headed friend anywhere. Tohru stood up from the bench, her bottom starting to feel sore and her foot starting to fall asleep from the amount of time she'd spent just sitting still for. A sensation similar to being stabbed by a million tiny needles surged through her leg, temporarily numbing the limb and forcing her to walk towards the exit with a very noticeable limp.

"Maybe I should see if he's at his house…" Tohru mumbled only to instantly take back those words with a shake of her head. No way….what if I come off as being clingy or overbearing? Deciding against going to his house, she opted to heading home instead. Besides, her grandmother would be back from doing her errands soon and would probably need help putting groceries and other bought items away. Upon reaching the exit to the park after gaining the feeling back in her leg, Tohru halted in her tracks when a peculiar noise found its way into her eardrum. They were sounds of pained whimpers and groans, and judging by the high pitched tone it had to be coming from a small child. Cautiously, the brunette turned around and scanned over the area for a source of the noises that seemed to plant a seed of worry into the back of her mind. Not that she knew what was making these noises, but if they were indeed the sounds of a suffering child, then this was something she simply couldn't just ignore.

Something out of place had then caught the girl's eye; it was small and animal-like in appearance with a mostly off-white colored soft looking body with splotches of lime green in different areas. It had long, floppy looking ears that were reminiscent of a rabbit's and a small horn protruded from the top of its head. The creature's entire body was covered in bruises and small gashes and it seemed that it was barely even conscious.

Her body seemed to move on its own despite her mind screaming at her to consider that this creature could be dangerous. Tohru dashed over to the wounded creature and knelt down beside it to inspect its wounds. Whatever this…thing was, it was certainly wasn't any kind of animal she'd ever seen before. Its eyes struggled to open, gazing up at her through vision that switched between blurred and clear as it was slipping in and out of consciousness. Tohru's emerald hues stared back into its darker half-lidded eyes, her own showing a great deal of concern and confusion.

"Who could have done this to you…?" Tohru's voice was just above a whisper as she spoke this question more to herself rather than to the creature.

"..That's…none of your concern…human…" The creature's small and weak voice reached her ears, its beaten and battered body shaking as it desperately struggled to stand upon its two stubby limbs.

At first, Tohru's entire body froze in utter shock for she had not expected it to answer her back. Wide emerald hues glued on the struggling creature while her brain tried its damned hardest process what the hell she'd just heard. Did…Did that thing just TALK?!

This…whatever it was, could talk. Not only that, it spoke her language and could walk on two legs. …What. The. Hell.

Snapping out of her initial shock, and without really thinking the situation through, Tohru quickly scooped the injured rabbit-like creature into her arms and made a beeline dash out of the park and towards her home. All the while, the small otherworldly being in her arms was weakly protesting and struggling to break free from her grasp, saying something about not wanting help from a filthy human. She was really confused as to why he (at least she thought it was a he) would refuse her aid or why he seemed to hate humans. It didn't matter though, for once Tohru had her mind set on helping someone nothing could possibly stop her.

"Judging by how beaten up you are, I think you do need my help." She spoke to the reluctant creature in a gentle, stern tone; much like that of a mother softly scolding her reckless child while tending to a wound. He still seemed dead set on refusing her help as he, again, tried to wriggle his body out of her arms.

"Noo…let…me…go…"

Realizing that it might not be a good idea to keep him visible to the public eye in the case that someone happened to be passing by, Tohru stopped in her tracks and knelt down to gently place him on the ground. She proceeded to remove her gray colored hoodie (that was clearly bought in the boy's section) and wrapped the little guy up in the article of clothing, making sure that his face wasn't covered so he wouldn't suffocate. Scooping him back up, she leapt up to her feet and made a mad dash for her grandmother's house.

With each quick step she took against the pavement, her breathing grew heavier and heavier though she remained focused on the task at hand. Damn…I'm running out of breath… However, this was no time to stop and take a breather, no matter how much she really wanted to right now. Her grandmother's house came into view which motivated her to pick up her pace. The house was old-fashioned, having been built many years before her time, with a dark brown shingled rooftop. Surrounding the quaint little home was a white fence that showed clear signs of aging, the white paint having started to chip away a long time ago.

Tohru threw open the gate and darted for the front door as a loud noise emitted from the gate's door slamming shut behind her. She practically leapt up the old and cracking steps of the stoop before throwing the front door open and roughly shutting it quickly. Her converse sneakers were kicked off and left laying askew in the front hall while she dashed past the living room and kitchen towards the bathroom. After searching the closet for the medical kit, she brought the creature to her room and closed the door.

With the utmost care, the brunette laid him on her bed and removed him from the warmth of her hoodie. Sitting on the mattress, she set down the med kit and got right to work on patching him up herself. First she got out the disinfectant and some wads of cotton balls. While Tohru was busy at work getting out the necessary supplies, the mystery creature was straining itself to sit up on the bed. Through tired, weary eyes he stared at the determined girl. His exterior showed a sense of extreme caution and distrust, but beneath his surface the creature was struggling to make sense of the situation he found himself in.

_…Why? Why is this human helping me…?_

She carefully coated a cotton ball with the disinfectant liquid and began to gently blot it onto his wounds, noticing the creature's face scrunching up in a pained wince and a whimper escaping his lips. "Sorry. I should have warned you that it would sting a bit." Tohru apologized in a soft whisper, her lips tugging upward to reveal a kind, motherly smile. After disinfecting his wounds, she took out the medical bandages and placed them over his wounds. "There. Now…you should get some rest." She told him while cleaning up her workspace and placing the items back into the med kit. She put the kit back in the bathroom closet before returning to her room and sliding her hoodie back on over the t-shirt she wore.

In a similar manner to a mother tucking in her small child for bed, Tohru pulled her blanket over his small frame. He was about to protest and attempt to break out of this prison when his eyes slid closed. Exhausted and depleted of all energy, sleep consumed him while he lay enveloped in the girl's lingering body warmth.

_I don't get it…why did she help me? I thought humans were evil…_

This thought plagued the creature's mind even as sleep was taking over him. Indeed, he did have this mindset that humans were evil beings that destroyed anything they couldn't understand. Every creature from his home world thought this way. So why did this human girl show him such kindness? Wasn't she scared of him?

Tohru gazed down at the sleeping form of the unknown creature, her kind smile never once faltering. She had no idea what he was or where he came from, but in that fleeting moment Tohru felt a strong desire to protect him. The sound of the front door creaking open and clicking shut jolted Tohru out of her thoughts. Light footsteps could be heard entering the kitchen which caused a sudden rush of panic to run through her veins.

"Tohru. Would you be a dear and help me with the groceries?" A much older sounding, gentle voice called to the brunette. It had hit Tohru like a sack of bricks to her skull; the sudden realization that she hadn't really thought things through when she decided to bring the injured creature home with her.

_How am I going to explain him to grandma?_

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><p><strong>Well, there you have it! Chapter one of my Digimon Savers story! C:<strong>

**I hope you enjoyed it and if so, why not leave a review? I would like to know if there's any way I could improve my writing if there's anything uh…weird about it I guess?**

**The first couple of chapters are just supposed to be about Tohru meeting her Digimon partner, but don't worry the canon characters will make their appearances soon enough!**

**(Also, see if you can guess which Digimon I chose to be her partner! ;D)**

**EDIT: I changed the title of the story because I finally thought of a better name. Haha. Whoops. Also part of chapter 4 was re-written so make sure you read that! ;P**


	2. Silent Bond

Finding Strength Within || Digimon Savers/Data Squad

.::||Chapter Two: Silent Bond||::.

**Thank you to MiraclesVeemon, foxchick1, SnakeGear and my good friend for reviewing! And yes, you guessed correctly! It's Terriermon! He's one of my favorite Digimon from my favorite season, Digimon Tamers! :D Here's chapter two, hope you all enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Savers or its characters. I only own my OCs.**

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><p>Leaving the rabbit-like creature to aid her grandmother, Tohru made sure to close the door before heading into the kitchen. Her grandmother, an elderly woman of short structure due to her age, was busying herself with unpacking food items onto the table. Her whitened thin hair was tied into a low ponytail that draped over her shoulder. Her hazel colored hues were hidden behind a pair of old prescription lenses.<p>

"Could you put away the vegetables, Tohru?" Her grandmother, Mrs. Harima, requested as the corners of her lips tugged up to reveal a sweet smile upon seeing the teenager. With a nod of her head, Tohru began placing all the vegetables in the fridge. The elder woman quietly thanked Tohru as she was putting some baking ingredients in one of the many cub boards in their kitchen.

"How was your day, grandma?" The young brunette questioned as she was gathering up the discarded grocery bags to put in the recycling bin.

"Oh, it was just like any other day. I wouldn't want to bore you with the tedious details." Mrs. Harima let a soft chuckle escape her thin lips. "What about your day, Tohru? Did you get to see Masaru?" She added in a teasing manner that caused Tohru's cheeks to flush red.

"Well…uh…not really. He never showed up at our meeting spot." Tohru replied dejectedly, shifting her weight uncomfortably while her face continued to heat up. Her grandmother's smile faded briefly as she stepped towards Tohru, placing a wrinkled hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure he had a good reason. Perhaps something came up." Mrs. Harima attempted to reassure the younger girl, her thumb gently tracing small circles into the material of Tohru's hoodie.

"Yeah…he probably got caught up with something important." Tohru paused, lips closing then parting again to make a comment pertaining to the boy they were discussing.

"Like cramming piles of food into his mouth?" Mrs. Harima remarked, beating her own granddaughter to the punch. Tohru's green hues were wide for a mere few seconds before a snort emitted from her throat. Both females burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter over the fact that they were thinking the exact same thing about Tohru's hot headed friend. After calming down from their hysterics, Tohru wiped tears from her eyes and offered to finish putting the rest of the groceries away while her grandmother got some relaxation.

The house had grown peacefully quiet with only the sounds of cabinets opening and closing and bags rustling. That was…until her grandmother's terrified shriek pierced through the silence and causing Tohru to drop everything she was doing and make a mad dash for Mrs. Harima's room. (She almost slipped on the hardwood floor on the way. Socks on hardwood floors don't mix.)

However, what she saw was probably just as bad as seeing her grandmother laying on the floor in pain. Instead she found that the still injured creature she brought home had wandered into her grandmother's room and managed to scare the living daylights out of the elderly woman. Mrs. Harima was backed up against the wall, eyes wide in both confusion and fear. Her hazel hues left the creature that was just staring up at her to glance over at her alarmed granddaughter. "T-Tohru..! W…What is…" Her voice was shaky, her frail body stiffened as if she had the idea that the little creature would actually attack her if she made the wrong move. The rabbit-like creature tilted his head to the side and took the tiniest step forward, causing Mrs. Harima's body to stiffen further and a yelp to leave her lips.

"G-Grandma, please calm down. He's not going to hurt you." Tohru gently assured her frightened grandmother while taking a step into the room and moving slowly toward the creature. Slow and steady, she kept telling herself. Arms reaching out to prepare to scoop up the mystery creature in her arms just in case he really did decide to harm her grandmother. However, she was not so lucky, as he sensed her coming up behind him and spun around to glare up at her defiantly.

"Stay away from me, human!" He shouted angrily, launching himself at Tohru and successfully landing a blow to her abdomen using his forehead before landing on his stubby feet and running out of the room. Tohru let out a grunt of pain and was knocked off her feet, falling backwards onto her bottom and doubling over while gasping for air. (His headbutt attack was surprisingly hard enough to knock the wind out of her) This caused Mrs. Harima to cry out in concern and rush over to her fallen granddaughter, kneeling by her side and giving her a soothing backrub. All the while, the small creature hid behind the doorframe and glared at the two.

"Tohru…did…that thing just talk?" Mrs. Harima whispered as quietly as she possibly could so as to avoid angering the creature further. Nodding her head, Tohru slowly sat up as she was able to breathe again though her stomach still ached a bit from the impact. "What is it and where did it come from?" Her grandmother questioned further, her hazel eyes filled with genuine fear and concern for their safety. Now that she knew this thing could attack them if he so desired, she wasn't too keen on the idea of him being inside the house with them.

"That I'm..not really…sure…grandma. I..I found it in the park before." Was all Tohru replied with before grabbing onto the wooden bedpost and, using it as support, pushed herself up onto her feet. "But I'm going to find out one way or another.." With that said, her emerald hues now locked onto the creature's darker eyes as she began stepping towards him again. Instead of attacking her though, he fled out into the hallway. Tohru gave chase in hot pursuit of the creature as she stumbled into the living room, spotting him making an attempt to escape by climbing up onto the couch that was located near the window. She sprinted across the room and leapt onto the couch, arms outstretched to grab him. Instead of catching him though, she went face first into the couch cushion, nearly knocking the piece of furniture backwards.

Now startled, he leapt off the couch and made a beeline for the front door. Cursing under her breath, Tohru continued this wild goose chase by running after him. He jumped up into the air, one of his floppy ears reaching for the doorknob. He was so close to succeeding in his escape, however before he could grab the knob he felt two strong arms wrap around his body and sending him face first into the wooden door. As Tohru had managed to finally catch him, she too went face first into the door as well. Mrs. Harima cautiously stepped out of her bedroom only to see her granddaughter holding the annoyed looking creature tightly in her arms. Both had red marks on their foreheads and noses as a result of hitting the door.

"Uh…I caught him grandma." Tohru chuckled nervously, blood starting to drip down from her nose. A sigh of both relief and unconditional worry left the elderly woman's lips before she went to fetch her granddaughter a tissue.

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><p>Tohru let a yawn escape her throat as the tomboyish teenager climbed into her small bed, glancing down at the tired looking creature that lay beside her. His back was turned to her, a sour expression plastered on his otherwise adorable features. He's still angry at me, isn't he? Softly exhaling a sigh, the brunette laid her head down on one of her soft plain white pillows. Her emerald hues were glued onto the creature's form as she was contemplating what it is that he could possibly be thinking about right now. Though she didn't have to ponder this for long when his voice pierced through the silence.<p>

"Why did you help me…?" He questioned weakly, successfully taking Tohru by surprise. Was something like that really bothering him that much? The brunette didn't answer at first, having taken a few minutes to actually process this question and try to come up with a reasonable answer.

"Well…I'm…not entirely sure why…" Tohru started, the corners of her lips tugged up ever so slightly to form a warm smile. "..But when I saw you laying on the ground, looking the way you did, I just felt like I needed to help you." This was honestly the only logical answer she could come up with, and had it been any other person that found him, they would have called the police rather than taking it upon themselves to come to his aid. "I don't know where you came from or what you are…but in that moment, none of that seemed to matter. I just really wanted to keep you safe."

This answer made no sense to him, or rather, he was trying to force himself to believe it made no sense. Everything about this girl caused every part of him to stiffen up with caution; her caring smile, the gentle and motherly tone she used to speak to him, and the comforting feeling he got every single time she held him in her arms. He wanted to believe that this was all just very good acting and she would eventually attempt to harm him, just as humans had done to his entire world ten years prior. However, whenever their eyes locked he couldn't bring himself to think that this girl was evil. Despite having been attacked by him and having to deal with his hatred for her, she was still making it her mission to befriend him.

Her kindness felt very real.

He turned his body around, now coming face to face with the girl and locking eyes with her once again. This always seemed to send his emotions into a frenzy and his thoughts to become jumbled. He didn't want to admit out loud that he was beginning to trust her, however he kept his guard up in the case that she wasn't nearly as kind as she made herself out to be. He was beginning to doubt that all humans were evil because of this one girl. "My name is Terriermon..." He spoke once again after a thick silence that came over the two.

"Terriermon…" Tohru tried out the name to see how well it would roll off of her tongue before deciding that she liked the way it sounded. "What exactly are you?" Terriermon went quiet for a few mere seconds before answering.

"I'm a Digimon." Was all he replied with as he observed the girl's expression change to one of utter confusion, which surprised the rabbit-like Digimon. She had no idea what a Digimon was so she couldn't have known anything about what had happened on that horrible day ten years ago. That was a given, but he had always believed that all humans were evil due to the actions of a few individuals. This way of thinking was beginning to bother him. There was no way this girl could have thoughts of harming anything, let alone an entire race of his fellow Digimon.

"A Digimon..?"

"A monster that's made out of data…and I come from another world…the Digital World." Terriermon explained, the sour expression that had been plastered all over his features softening. Her emerald hues actually lit up with newfound curiosity at the news that a world other than her own existed.

"And…there are other Digimon besides you?" Curiosity and excitement were evident in her tone as her smile returned to her features.

"..Yeah. We all vary in appearance, shape, size, and personality." Her eyes widened and lit up further.

"Wow…that sounds so cool! I wonder what kind of Digimon there are out there!" She laughed cheerfully, her reaction to this news resulting in a surprised looking Terriermon. His features softened as the Digimon scooted himself closer to the girl's body, giving her permission to put her arms around him in response. Tohru seemed to get the hint, carefully bringing him into her warm embrace and pulling the blanket over their bodies.

"Goodnight Terriermon." Tohru's warm smile never faded from her face as her eyes fluttered shut, snuggling with him as if he were a stuffed animal. Funny thing was, he really did resemble a stuffed plush toy. Terriermon said nothing back, however he felt that he didn't need to. His eyes slowly closed as he suddenly recalled hearing the girl's name being uttered by her grandmother earlier that day before being consumed by a peaceful slumber.

_Tohru…_

Said girl was recalling how hard it'd been to convince her grandmother to let him stay the night after the elderly woman nearly had a panic attack upon discovering him in their house. She'd gone on to scold Tohru for acting on a whim, however she wasn't too cross with the teenager. Mrs. Harima knew how her granddaughter's mind worked. Despite her tomboyish appearance, Tohru had a very maternal nature and always came to the aid of those in need.

Before sleep consumed her entire being as well, a troubling thought had crossed her mind.

_Who…or what attacked you, Terriermon?_

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><p><strong>Looks like Terriermon is starting to warm up to Tohru, isn't he? X3 There will be more bonding between them in the next chapter.<strong>

**If you like this story so far, why not leave a review or at least a comment? I'd love to get some feedback and see how I'm doing so far! Next chapter, the story will begin to progress more. Masaru and Yoshino will finally appear as well! Can't wait to work on that!**


	3. Awakened Digisoul

Finding Strength Within || Digimon Savers/Data Squad

.::||Chapter Three: Awakened Digisoul||::.

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I'm so happy that you're all enjoying this so far! :D And thank you to everyone that added this story to their favorites or started to follow it! You're all so awesome!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Savers or its characters. I only own my OCs.**

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><p>The following morning, Tohru, her grandmother and Terriermon were seated at the kitchen table to eat the omelets Mrs. Harima had prepared. However, only two of the three were actually eating anything as Terriermon merely stared down at his food, his expression full of uncertainty. Tohru's emerald hues left the food on her plate to stare down at her new companion, noticing the uncomfortable glint in his dark eyes.<p>

"What's wrong, Terriermon? You don't like it?" The brunette questioned with a tilt of her head and a hint of concern in her eyes. Terriermon snapped out of his daze and lifted his head up to lock eyes with the human girl. He then stared back down at the omelet on his plate, leaning in closer to sniff at it causing his mouth to water at the delicious aroma that filled his senses.

Sensing his hesitation, Tohru offered him a warm smile and nodded her head at him. "Go ahead and try it." Terriermon looked as if he were trying his damned hardest not to give into his hunger, his body stiff and his expression focused.

"Tohru, dear. It's possible that Terriermon might not like food from this world. We shouldn't force him to eat it." Mrs. Harima gently but sternly told her granddaughter, causing the girl's smile to tug downwards into a slight frown.

"Oh…right. I didn't think about how Digimon might not like eating human food…" The tomboy glanced down at her food, feeling kind of silly that she hadn't given that any thought. In that moment, the Digimon gave into his hunger and wolfed down the entire omelet on his plate in about five seconds flat with a look of complete satisfaction. Tohru and her grandmother both blinked in surprise before the elderly woman emitted a quiet laugh at his actions.

"Did you enjoy it, Terriermon?"

Terriermon's once satisfied expression changed and he took on a more flustered appearance, however he nodded his head regardless. "It was really good." He spoke up for the first time that morning in a quiet tone.

Tohru's whole face brightened up at his answer, her frown changing back into a wide smile. "Glad you liked my grandmother's omelet, Terriermon! So does this mean that Digimon can eat human food after all?"

"Y…Yes.." Terriermon replied quietly, avoiding meeting Tohru's joyful gaze. Tohru noticed his quiet and uncomfortable demeanor and cocked her head to the side, confusion and concern showing in her emerald hues.

"Is something bothering you? You've looked upset ever since we woke up." Terriermon fidgeted in his seat, letting out a small whimper before finally meeting the human girl's gaze.

"I'm….really sorry for attacking you yesterday, Tohru…" Said girl hadn't said anything at first, her brain processing what the Digimon just said while blinking a few times in rapid succession.

'Is that why he's been so quiet this morning? He felt bad for attacking me..?' Tohru smiled warmly and in a swift motion, scooped the small creature up into her arms and cradled him gently against her chest. "Terriermon, you don't have to apologize for that! I forgive you!" The brunette stated as a carefree laugh escaped her throat, causing him to gaze up at her in surprise.

"You do…?" Terriermon earned a nod from the girl in response.

"Of course! That's what friends do! They forgive each other!" Tohru exclaimed as she hugged her new friend closer to her.

A slight blush appeared on Terriermon's cheeks as he eased into the hug and relished in the warmth of her body's heat. "F-Friends?"

"Yup! We're friends!" Tohru nodded her head as Terriermon quietly buried his face into the material of her t-shirt. Tohru hugged him a bit more securely and smiled as she turned to her grandmother, whom was smiling at the scene playing out before her. "Grandma, Terriermon and I are gonna go out for the day. Is there anything you need us to pick up?"

Mrs. Harima shook her head as she stood up, pushing her seat up and began to clean up the table and put the dishes in the sink to wash. "No, no. That's alright, deary. You two go have fun."

"Alright!" Tohru's smile never left her features as she ran to the door and slipped on her converse sneakers, then ran back to poke her head into the kitchen. "Have a good day Grandma! We'll be back later!"

"Be careful, Tohru." Mrs. Harima reminded her with a gentle smile, meeting her daughter's gaze. "You too, Terriermon." Tohru smiled back at her grandmother.

"We will! Bye!" With that, Tohru ran out the front door with Terriermon being held securely in her arms, looking like a stuffed toy. At least if he didn't move around too much, nobody would notice anything out of place and get freaked out.

After the elderly woman cleaned up the table and dishes, she slowly found her way into the living room. Her gaze trained on a simple picture frame sitting on the coffee table. Her shaky and wrinkled hand reached down and picked the frame up, bringing it closer to herself. Mrs. Harima's smile began to fade and was replaced with a somber expression, her hazel hues glued to the faces of a young man and woman holding a small infant with bright emerald eyes. The woman in the picture resembled a grown up version of Tohru, her light brown hair longer than Tohru's and laying gently over one shoulder and her green hues glued to the camera with a cheerful expression. The taller man standing beside her with his arm wrapped around her slender waist was giving a toothy grin to the camera, his free hand on his hip. His complexion was tanner than his wife's, his hair a darker shade of brown and some slight stubble on his chin. His hazel eyes held a hot blooded, burning passion in them. The infant in the photo was being held in her mother's loving arms and stared at the camera with wide, innocent hues that resembled her mother's.

"If only your parents could see how much you've grown, Tohru."

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><p>"Where are we going, Tohru?" Terriermon questioned curiously, glancing up at all the different buildings in awe and wonder.<p>

"We're going into town! I'm going to show you some of the things I like to do. First thing on the list, the arcade!" Tohru exclaimed as she picked up her pace, walking with a bounce in her step towards the place in question. Terriermon tilted his head to the side questioningly.

"What's an arcade?"

"You'll see." Was all Tohru told him before they arrived at their first destination, a crowded arcade building filled with video game machines and machines made to play arcade games. She walked up to one of the token machines and slid a yen bill into the slot. It processed the money and spilled out some game tokens into the small coin dish. Tohru scooped up the silver colored tokens into her hand and pocketed them in the pocket of her cargo shorts and ran over to her favorite fighting game. After inserting a token, the start menu showed up on the screen.

"This is a video game, Terriermon. And the place we're in is called an arcade. People come here to play games to win tickets. Then they exchange those tickets for prizes at the counter over there." Tohru explained to the Digimon, pointing a finger over at the prize counter where different items ranging from stuffed toys to expensive game systems were lined up on shelves. Those usually cost a lot of tickets while all the cheaper prizes such as toy rings, fake fangs and candy were inside the display shelves.

Terriermon groaned and held his long ears close to his head, trying to block out all the noise. "It's noisy in here…" His reaction made Tohru laugh lightly, her eyes glued to the screen as she began to select her character to play as.

"Yeah, arcades are pretty noisy." She picked a female character and the game started and she was pitted against the game's computer. Usually she would play with her friend, but since he was absent today she had no other choice. However, within moments of the first round starting, her character was already on the ground as the letters 'KO' flashed on the screen.

"Heh, I'm pretty bad at this game." Terriermon furrowed his small eyebrows at the game's screen, his nose wrinkling.

"Why do you play it then?" He asked as if he didn't quite understand the whole concept of why someone would play a game if they were horrible at it. Well, in a way he really didn't understand it.

"Because it's fun, silly! Okay! Another round!" Tohru exclaimed excitedly as she continued to play the fighting game for two more rounds, losing each one of them one after the other. Once the word 'CONTINUE?' followed by a countdown showed up on screen, the brunette slumped back in her chair and let out a content laugh. "Man, I thought always losing to Masaru was bad."

At the mention of her best friend's name, Terriermon tilted his head to the side and glanced up at her in confusion, dark eyes blinking. Tohru sensed his confusion and stood up from the chair she was sitting in and began to leave the arcade with the Digimon in her arms. "Oh. Masaru is my best friend. We come here all the time to play against each other."

Tohru took him around the major parts of the city, showing him all the sights. Terriermon's eyes were wide in awe and wonder at the new and unfamiliar things he saw. To the brunette, it was honestly one of the cutest things she'd ever seen before. Around lunch time, they stopped at an ice cream stand by the park. Tohru began to stare at the stand, certain insecurities boiling up in her mind, her emerald hues glazing over. She was deep in her thoughts, contemplating her options.

"Tohru…?" Terriermon's small voice brought the brunette from her depressing thoughts and she glanced down at the Digimon in her arms.

"Huh? Oh…" She paused for a mere moment or two before a smile tugged on her lips. "Want some ice cream?" Terriermon tilted his head as if to ask what that was. "You'll really enjoy it! I promise you!" Tohru exclaimed with added enthusiasm, stepping up to the stand and placing an order for two ice cream cones. Terriermon stayed completely still so as to not arouse any suspicion from the ice cream vendor, whom was staring at Tohru for a moment, her dark eyes traveling over Tohru's head to look behind her and upon seeing not a soul, traveled back to meet the girl's innocent gaze.

The vendor slowly began to prepare the two cones and handed them over to Tohru, who paid for them in return and was about to leave when the dark haired woman spoke up.

"Are both of those for you?" Her tone was almost mocking in a way. This sudden question caused Tohru's emerald hues to widen ever so slightly and she bit her bottom lip, shaking her head in response. The tomboy glanced downwards as she turned away to hide how flushed her face was and walked at a brisk pace away from the stand and into the park. Tohru found a bench and sat down, sitting Terriermon beside her.

"Here. Try it." Tohru smiled as she handed one of the cones over to the Digimon before starting to lick her own, making a satisfied noise when the creamy treat slid down her throat. Terriermon held the cone in both of his stubby little hands and stared at it in confusion and hesitation. Tohru giggled when she noticed this.

"Go on. I promise it's not poisoned or anything." The brunette reassured him with a laugh, her eyes trained on him to observe his actions. Terriermon decided to try taking the risk and licked the vanilla flavoured ice cream, his eyes lighting up when the delightful flavour tickled his taste buds. Wanting more, he began to eat it at a much quicker pace before a clutching his head as pain throbbed in his skull, eyes squinting shut and his ice cream being knocked over in the process.

"My head hurts!" Terriermon whimpered and Tohru giggled at his silliness.

"Don't worry. It's just a brain freeze. It happens when you eat something cold too quickly. It'll go away." Just as soon as these words left her lips, Terriermon's eyes slowly opened and his hands lowered from his head.

"I-It's gone." Terriermon just then noticed his fallen ice cream laying on the dirt covered ground, an army of ants attacking the creamy treat. A sad whimper escaped his lips. "M-My ice cream…"

Tohru pulled the Digimon into her lap, a smile playing at her lips, putting her ice cream up to his mouth. "I'll share mine with you." Terriermon licked at one of the scoops of ice cream and a noise of satisfaction left his mouth. "How is it?" Tohru asked, cocking her head to get a better look at his face.

"It's…delicious!" Terriermon chirped with glee before practically digging his face into the sugary, creamy treat. Tohru's smile brightened and she licked from the other side of the ice cream.

"I'm glad you like ice cream. It's my favorite dessert." The brunette snuck a glance down at his face and had to stifle a giggle. "You've got some on your nose!" Terriermon merely blinked in response, head tilting slightly, dark eyes wide with innocence. The teenager had to resist the urge to let out a squeal at the adorable look on his face and gently wiped off the splotch of cream with her arm. "You're so silly."

There was a short silence between the two as they enjoyed their treat before something that was on her mind the previous night began to resurface in her mind. "Hey Terriermon…what attacked you yesterday? Was…was it another Digimon?"

The small Digimon's cheerful expression faded, a solemn look replacing it, his eyes downcast and his head nodding. "He's a Digimon who likes to bully weaker and smaller Digimon like me. Yesterday I challenged him to a fight because I was sick of being pushed around…but I wasn't strong enough."

Tohru's emerald hues fell upon Terriermon's solemn form, her expression softening at the familiar hint of sadness in his eyes. "I know how you feel…I get bullied and pushed around a lot too…it hurts and you feel like you're not strong enough to stand up to them…" Her lip quivered, a heavy sigh escaping her throat. Terriermon's dark eyes traveled up to his new friend, a hint of sympathy showing in those eyes.

Tears began to form in the corners of Tohru's eyes and she choked back a sob, biting her lower lip, shoulders shuddering as she struggled to swallow the lump in her throat. Noticing this, Terriermon wriggled out of her arms and climbed up her arm to rest on her shoulder, his long ears wrapping around her head in an embrace. Tohru felt the Digimon's warm and soft cheek nuzzle against her own, causing her eyes to widen in surprise from the sudden contact. "Don't cry, Tohru…"

He was…comforting her…

Her once sad expression softened and the corners of her lips tugged upwards, a giggle escaping her throat as she raised her hand to wipe away her own tears. "Thanks Terriermon, don't worry. I'll be okay." She reassured, nuzzling his cheek back. "You're soft and squishy."

Terriermon pulled a pouty face, cheeks puffing out to try and look intimidating. "Am not. I'm tough."

Tohru couldn't help but to smile and hold back her giggles as she brought the silly little goober back into her lap, arms wrapping securely around him. "Of course you are."

"You don't believe me, do you?" Terriermon grumbled, face still pulled into a pout. Tohru only laughed lightly in response and licked at the now melting vanilla ice cream.

They finished off the ice cream and continued to walk through the park, enjoying the cool autumn breeze. It was mid-afternoon by the time Tohru stopped in front of the very spot she found Terriermon laying in the day before. A quiet silence passed over them for a few moments before something strange caught their attention, tearing their eyes away from what they'd been staring at. A vortex opened up seemingly out of thin air and a gray rabbit-like creature, bigger than Terriermon with a scary looking expression and sharp claws, appeared before them. Terriermon's eyes widened in fear when he caught sight of the creature.

"T-Tohru. That's him!"

"W-What?" Tohru stammered as she too laid eyes on the intimidating creature in front of her, a look of realization passing over her features. "Terriermon…Is that the Digimon who hurt you?" The brunette whispered to the Digimon in her arms, to which he responded with a nod.

"That's Gazimon…" He whispered back to her. Gazimon noticed the pair standing out in plain sight right away, his lips pulling into a malicious grin.

"Well, I thought I'd find you here somewhere, Terriermon." Gazimon narrowed his eyes in disgust when he noticed Tohru and bared his sharp teeth to them. "What're you doing letting that human hold you like that?" The rabbit-like Digimon emitted a low growl from his throat, all of his anger and hatred showing in his beady eyes.

Tohru's sent a glare in Gazimon's direction, unconsciously hugging Terriermon closer to her chest. "You're the one that was bullying Terriermon…"

Gazimon's grin widened and he bared more of his teeth, looking much more threatening now. "Yeah? So what if I was? Not only is he a weakling, but now he's a traitor too!"

Terriermon sent the other Digimon a glare and wriggled free from Tohru's grasp to stand in front of her protectively. "I'm not a traitor!" Gazimon let another growl pass his lips, his paws clenching into fists.

"Any Digimon that partners up with a human is a filthy traitor and deserves to die!" These words caused Tohru to clench her fists in anger, her eyes narrowing at the bigger Digimon.

"I don't understand why you seem to hate humans so much, but I won't let you bully Terriermon anymore!" Gazimon directed his glare at Tohru when she intervened in his business.

"Shut your mouth, human!" He took in a deep breath of air and released a gaseous black colored blast from his mouth that was aimed at Tohru and Terriermon. "Paralyze Breath!" Thinking quickly, Tohru grabbed Terriermon and managed to jump out of the way of the blast, skidding across the ground and wincing in pain.

"Tohru…run. I'll fight him…" Terriermon whispered to her as he stood up on his stubby feet and walked towards Gazimon with determination in his eyes. Gazimon glared right back at Terriermon, growling dangerously and bearing his teeth menacingly.

"I always hated that look of yours. How could you betray us and go off to make friends with a human?! Don't you remember what they did to us?!"

Terriermon stopped in front of Gazimon, memories of the distant past flooding into his mind. "Of course I remember! I hated them all too! But…Tohru…she's not like that! She's showed me more kindness than any Digimon I've ever known!"

"Tch…filthy traitor. I'll kill you first…then I'll take my time slowly killing your human friend." Gazimon held up one of his paws and showed off his sharp claws, a menacing cackle rumbling from his throat. Terriermon's eyes narrowed in a fierce glare and he took on a fighting stance.

"I won't let you!" The smaller Digimon rushed at Gazimon and used the horn on his head to tackle him in the stomach with a hard impact, sending the larger Digimon flying backwards. The gray rabbit-like creature lay on his back, groaning in pain before struggling to get back up onto his feet, letting out an angry growl.

"Heh, I bet this girl is just fooling you, Terriermon. You shouldn't trust her, she could turn on you at the drop of a hat! Just like ten years ago!" He smirked in satisfaction upon noticing the way Terriermon's eyes widened just a bit.

"She wouldn't do that! She's not a bully like you are!" As soon as these words left his mouth, Gazimon's claws connected with his cheek, leaving a harsh red mark that begun to swell.

"Stop being such a fool! I bet you she'll run away to save herself!" Tohru's eyes widened for a brief moment and then narrowed in anger, her fists clenching tighter to the point that her knuckles turned white. "All humans are cowardly creatures! They're selfish! They discriminate against and destroy anything they don't like or understand!"

Terriermon's weakened form struggled to stand up, ignoring the throbbing pain in his cheek. "Not…all…humans are like that..!"

Gazimon rolled his eyes and brought his foot up to send a hard kick to Terriermon's face, sending the smaller Digimon flying back. "You're a fool, Terriermon."

Terriermon's vision began to blur, his consciousness starting to leave him. 'No…he…can't be right…Tohru…she wouldn't leave me here alone…right?' Terriermon's body quivered as he stood up, gritting his teeth. "You…big…bully! I won't let you push me around anymore!" He began to spin around in a circle at a rapid speed, creating a large twister aimed right at Gazimon. "Petite Twister!"

Gazimon dodged the attack with a deadly smirk and released another gaseous blast at Terriermon. "Paralyze Breath!" The blast hit Terriermon directly and sent him to the ground, temporarily unable to move or even lift a single finger.

Tohru's eyes widened in horror as she watched her new friend fighting with all the strength he could muster up, standing up on her feet. "T-Terriermon…"

Gazimon began to approach Terriermon, his toothy grin murderous as he raised up a clawed hand. "I'll finish you off now, traitor. Nice knowing ya." Terriermon glared up at him defiantly and braced himself for the strike that would finish him off.

What he didn't expect was for Tohru to appear in front of him and shield his weakened form with her body from the attack, letting out a cry of pain as Gazimon's claws slashed her back. Grimacing in pain and enduring it, the brunette cast a gentle smile down at Terriermon as a green wisp took form over her heart and engulfed her left arm. Terriermon's eyes widened in complete and utter shock at Tohru's sudden actions.

"T-Tohru…why did you…"

A pained laugh emitted from the brunette's lips, wincing when that caused her slight pain. "I told you, silly….its because you're my friend, Terriermon." Tohru stood up with the paralyzed Digimon in her arms and turned to face Gazimon, standing her ground against him. "I won't let you lay a claw on him!"

Gazimon roared with laughter, his cackles echoing loudly throughout the empty park before his vicious grin returned to his features. "You think you can actually fight me? A weak human being like you?"

Tohru grit her teeth and her lips pulled up into a smirk, her emerald hues filled with determination. "I know I can't fight against you and win, but I'll try. If its to protect Terriermon, I'll risk my life!"

"Fine." Gazimon growled. "You can both die together!" He charged at the both of them, claws raised and ready to deal deadly strikes.

Tohru didn't budge from her current spot and braced herself for the oncoming attack. However, an unfamiliar voice echoed through the air, causing Tohru's eyes to widen in surprise.

"Baby Flame!"

In that instant, a large fireball whizzed past the teenager and hit its target, Gazimon's cries piercing the air as he fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Tohru, still wide eyed, turned her head only for her eyes to fall upon a large yellow lizard with green eyes and red bracers on his claws running past her along with a tall male. His complexion was much more tanned than her own, his auburn hair reaching down to his shoulders in a half-ponytail and his forest green hues filled with a deep burning passion.

"M-Masaru?!" The teenage boy's name left Tohru's lips, her tone a mixture of surprise and confusion as her eyes scanned the boy up and down, making note of his rather strange attire.

"Tohru! Get back! We'll take things from here!" Masaru called back to her from over his shoulder, rushing in with the yellow lizard to fight against Gazimon. Tohru stood there in confusion, blinking and staring at his skintight outfit as she backed away from the fight.

"What the hell is going on here?" The brunette jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, whipping her head around to meet a pair of magenta colored eyes that belonged to a girl that was a bit taller than Tohru, her hair color matching her eyes.

"Come with me. I need to check that wound on your back. Don't worry about those two, Masaru and Agumon can handle the Digimon on their own." The magenta haired girl, also clad in a pink skin tight outfit similar to Masaru's, spoke to her in a firm but gentle tone so as to refrain from scaring Tohru.

"Um…okay. But…who are you?" The brunette questioned as she began to follow the older looking girl to what she figured was a police car judging by the way it looked. The magenta haired girl swung one of the back doors open and Tohru sat on the leather seat, having to turn around so her back was facing the other girl. She tensed up when the back of her hoodie was lifted up, the older girl inspecting her wound. "C-Could you answer my question?"

"Oh..right." The magenta haired girl pulled the material down and fished out her ID card from the white pouch attached to the belt that wrapped around her slender waist. "My name is Yoshino Fujieda and I'm an agent working for the Digital Accident Tactics Squad, or DATS."

"O-Oh…" Tohru turned around and stared into Yoshino's magenta hues. "So you're like the police?"

"Sort of. DATS is a government run organization that was created for the purpose of keeping the city safe from wild Digimon that appear in the human world." Yoshino explained in a professional tone, but only earning a raised eyebrow from Tohru.

"Its…bad for Digimon to be here?"

"More like its illegal. Only DATS members are allowed to keep a Digimon partner because we have what is necessary to help them evolve." Tohru tilted her head to the side at this new bit of information.

"Digimon can evolve?" Wow, she asked a lot of questions. She was surprised Yoshino hadn't gotten annoyed by the brunette's constant questioning yet.

"Yes. With the help of a Digisoul, which you seem to have awakened, and one of these." Yoshino pulled out a pink and white colored device that had a small display screen. Inside the screen was a pink and green colored creature with a cute face. "A Digivice iC." She put it back in her pouch after showing it to Tohru. "Anyway, your wound seems to be just a scratch. However, we'll have to take both of you back to HQ for treatment." Yoshino stood up just as Masaru and Agumon returned, both sporting angered expressions.

"Damn bastard got away!" Masaru grumbled, fists clenching and teeth gritting as his eyes stared at the ground.

"What?!" Yoshino's voice raised, successfully managing to startle Tohru with her sudden outburst, before letting out a sigh of irritation. "This is the worst…" The older girl mumbled before stepping away from the two teenagers and pressing a button on her earpiece, calling up her boss at DATS headquarters.

While Yoshino informed her boss of the situation at hand, Masaru forgot about his initial anger and glanced down at his childhood friend. A smile graced his strong features, his forest green eyes seeming to light up when they locked with Tohru's own green eyes. "Hey Tohru! You okay?"

Tohru felt her cheeks warm up, not doubting that a blush was forming on her face upon meeting his gaze. "Yeah. I'm okay…it's just a scratch, that's all."

Masaru began to lean over her form to get a better look at the slash wound on her back, this action making the smaller girl blush more. "Looks like a big scratch to me. Though, I'm impressed by how brave you two were! Good job, shorty!" The teenage boy let out a laugh that sounded so smooth and carefree, placing a hand on his friend's head and rubbing his palm against her beanie hat affectionately.

A soft smile tugged at the corners of Tohru's lips, her face heating up from his compliment and affectionate gesture. "Thanks." She then glanced down at the paralyzed Terriermon, nothing but concern in her eyes. "You okay, buddy?"

"Y-Yeah, just paralyzed…" Terriermon responded weakly as he was being cradled in Tohru's arms.

"We'll get you treated and you'll be back to normal in no time at all." She reassured her injured friend, earning a small smile from the Digimon.

Yoshino hung up after her conversation ended and she approached the two teenagers and their Digimon companions again, a hand resting on her hip. "Our boss will want to meet you once we get back." Her eyes briefly glanced over Terriermon before she met Tohru's gaze again. "You…might not be able to keep Terriermon though…" Her words caused the younger teenage girl to hold Terriermon closer to herself protectively out of instinct, her eyes clearly telling them that they'll have to pry him out of her cold dead hands if they want to take him away from her.

"..Unless you were to join DATS…" Tohru's protective demeanor faded, replaced with a curious glint in her eyes. "However, I won't force you into it. Just…give it some thought…" Yoshino told her firmly, crossing her arms over her chest and bringing up a hand to rub her temple.

Tohru merely nodded her head quietly, her eyes briefly glancing over Yoshino, Masaru and the Digimon standing beside her best friend, known as Agumon. "If I were to start working for DATS…my grandmother would be alone a lot more often….I..I don't know if I could leave her by herself like that…"

"Well, that's why we're giving you a choice...but if you choose not to join, we'll have to take Terriermon from you and your memories of him will have to be erased." Yoshino's voice no longer held that gentle tone, now sounding more stern, serious and commanding.

"R..Right.." Tohru's voice trailed off and she went quiet, an uncomfortable silence falling over the trio. Masaru noticed the solemn expression on his best friend's face and began to open his mouth to protest against DATS rules, but stopped himself when Tohru smiled sadly and shook her head as if to tell him not to try and defend her.

"I'll…think about it…"

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><p><strong>Holy crap, this is a long chapter. I…did not expect it to be this long, but I think that makes up for taking so long to get it typed up! xD Just to inform you all, updates will usually be weekly unless something happens that prevents me from putting out a chapter each week.<strong>

**This ended up being ten pages. TEN PAGES. Ugh.**


	4. Hidden Insecurities, A Dangerous Rematch

Finding Strength Within || Digimon Savers/Data Squad

.:: ||Chapter 4: Hidden Insecurites; A Dangerous Rematch|| ::.

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed. YOU'RE ALL SO AWESOME!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Savers or its characters. I only own my OCs.**

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><p>The car ride to DATS headquarters was, to say the least, silent and awkward. Yoshino's gaze was focused in front of her, her hands having a firm grip on the steering wheel. Masaru was in the passenger's seat beside her, his forest green hues taking glances up at the rearview mirror to check on the three individuals in the backseats. Tohru was seated behind him with Terriermon in her lap and Agumon seated beside her. Masaru's partner had kept taking quick glances over at the brown haired female every few minutes.<p>

"Hi! I'm Agumon!" The giant yellow lizard greeted Tohru for what was actually the first time, giving her a big grin. Turning her head, Tohru returned the smile.

"Hi! I'm Tohru. This is Terriermon." If he hadn't been paralyzed, Terriermon would have waved at Agumon with his stubby little hand.

"I know who you are! Aniki told me all about you!" Agumon exclaimed though all he earned was a confused stare from Tohru, her emerald hues blinking innocently.

"Aniki..?"

"That's what I call my partner! He wanted to show me to you, but he was scared of how you'd react to seeing me!" Agumon explained, clearly referring to Masaru.

Tohru turned her gaze to the back of Masaru's head before he had shifted in his seat to stare back at her. "Really?"

"Ah, jeez! Agumon! Don't embarrass me like that!" Masaru groaned while sending a glare towards his partner, a very faint pink blush sprinkled on his cheeks that he hoped went unnoticed by Tohru.

"Sorry Aniki!" Agumon apologized before turning back to Tohru, still grinning brightly at the girl, who had started to giggle at their bickering. "Aniki was right though! You are really cu-"

Before Agumon could speak anything more, Masaru's hand had slapped over his mouth. The teenager had launched himself out of his seat and covered the talkative Digimon's yapper before he could finish his sentence. The blush on his tanned cheeks had darkened considerably, shouting curses at his airheaded partner. Tohru had flinched at this sudden action and unfortunately, it also distracted Yoshino and she almost swerved off the road. Managing to regain control of the car, she pulled over on the shoulder and put the car in park.

"That's enough, Masaru! Sit back down now!" Yoshino raised her voice over all the noise, turning in her seat and sending a demanding glare towards the now frightened Masaru. The younger teen quickly did as he was told and sat back down lest he anger her further. The magenta haired female let out an aggravated sigh and sent Tohru an apologetic look.

"Sorry for all that." Tohru smiled back as she sweatdropped in response.

"It's alright. I'm used to it." The two females shared a laugh while Masaru's eye twitched and a groan escaped his throat.

"Let's just get back to DATS! We gotta get Tohru and Terriermon looked at!" The hot-blooded teen complained, his annoyed glare directed more at Yoshino. Tohru's giggling ceased, a blush painting her fair cheeks red.

"Alright, calm down Masaru." Yoshino waved him off, not in the least bit intimidated by the younger teenager in the least. She shifted gears and after checking to see if it was good to go, she drove back onto the road and within the next few minutes they had arrived at a large building located on the far end of town. Tohru had never known that this place existed before, but then again she'd never been this far downtown either.

Yoshino exited the car, her hand already on her head as she felt a raging headache coming on. It was easy for Tohru to see that Yoshino was like the mother of DATS, gentle and kind, but knew to get angry when she needed to. Masaru was more like the problem child that gave her constant headaches. Tohru stepped out of the car and followed the two DATS members into the building.

As they walked through the corridors, Tohru's eyes curiously took in her new surroundings. There were no other sounds other than the clanks of their shoes against the metal flooring. The two led her into a white room where a few medical professionals were waiting for them with inviting smiles. She was instructed to sit on the medical bed by a dark haired woman, her hair pulled up into a tight bun. A brown haired male took Terriermon into another room so he could be treated separately.

"Miss, you'll have to remove your shirt so I can apply the disinfectant." The dark haired woman spoke to Tohru with a gentle tone, a container and some cotton swabs in her hands. Tohru's cheeks flared up when she realized Masaru was still in the room. Masaru, however, wore that oblivious expression he was known for. Yoshino got the hint and began to push him out of the room while he started shouting complaints at her. She slammed the door once he was outside and leaned against the cool surface with a sigh.

Tohru reluctantly removed the article of clothing and turned her back to the woman, cheeks still stained with a dark blush. Her hands in her lap, clenching her fists till her knuckles turned white. She bit her bottom lip when the dark haired woman began to dab the disinfectant on her wound, finding that it stung way more than she initially believed it would. Her eyes shut tightly to endure the process and before she knew bandages had been wrapped around her, covering the slashes on her back.

Though there was still a slight stinging sensation, Tohru stood up with no problems and carefully put her shirt back on. However, she knew she would have to throw the article of clothing out once she got home due to the fabric being torn up in the back. Yoshino placed a hand on her shoulder and led her out of the room, finding Masaru leaning against the wall with his arms crossed across his chest and Agumon at his side. "About time you guys finished."

"Oh quit complaining. We weren't in there for that long." Yoshino rolled her eyes at him. The male doctor from before brought Terriermon, who was looking much better than he did before, and handed the Digimon to Tohru.

"Wow! You look a lot better, Terriermon!" The brunette exclaimed, a smile crossing her features as she hugged her new friend close to her and nuzzled her cheek against his.

"Yeah! I feel a whole lot better too!" Terriermon chirped, nuzzling her cheek back and wrapping his ears around her in an embrace. Yoshino, Masaru and Agumon couldn't help but smile at the rather cute scene in front of them. However, Yoshino quickly reminded them of what they were supposed to be doing and began walking ahead. The two younger teens glanced at each other and followed their superior into a rather large room filled with computers and screens.

Two young women who appeared to be around Yoshino's age were seated at a couple computers, their fingers typing away at the keys. One had long, straight dark hair, appearing more mature looking. The other had had shorter, wavy blonde hair and a cute face making her appear younger than the other girl. Both were wearing the same outfit, however it differed from the uniform that Masaru and Yoshino wore. Sitting behind the desk at the far end of the room was a tall looking man with very broad shoulders. The man had short dark blue hair and a tanned complexion, however, Tohru couldn't see his eyes as they were hidden behind a pair of dark tinted glasses. Around his neck was a white ferret-like Digimon that sort of acted like a small scarf.

Just by taking one look at him, Tohru could tell right away that this was a guy whose authority demanded the utmost respect. Which totally wasn't because of how intimidated she felt under his gaze either. This was a man who should not be messed with.

"The wild Digimon got away. Correct?" The moment he spoke, she wasn't surprised by how deep his voice sounded and inwardly flinched at his tone. Clearly he'd already been informed that the mission was an utter failure and wasn't too happy about it. Tohru couldn't help but put some of the blame on herself. If she'd been stronger…

If both Tohru and Terriermon had been stronger…maybe they could have…

Masaru and Yoshino flinched in unison, the younger male scratching the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Uh….yeah…it won't happen again, sir." Wow, this guy even intimidated the great Masaru Daimon. Go figure.

The man, known as Rentarou Satsuma, let out a sigh and turned his gaze to Tohru, who noticeably stiffened up under his powerful stare. "You are Tohru Harima, correct?"

Tohru blinked, confusion written all over her face and the nervous feeling intensifying.

How did he know her full name?

Nodding her head slowly, Tohru swallowed hard and fidgeted uncomfortably where she stood. "Yes…sir…" Her tone was quiet and showed just a hint of how nervous she felt at that very moment.

"And the Digimon you're holding, we caught its signal yesterday. It was very weak though and we couldn't pin point its exact location." Satsuma studied Terriermon from behind his glasses, his arms folding over his chest. Instinctively, Tohru held her friend closer to herself in a protective manner.

"A…Are you going to take him from me?" Satsuma had to hold back an amused chuckle at the girl's strong will to have Terriermon remain at her side.

"Usually, that would be the case…however, from what I've been told you were able to obtain a Digisoul before." The expression on Tohru's face told him that she had no idea what he was talking about. "Did you happen to notice a wisp of data surrounding your hand when you were fighting?"

Now that Tohru thought about it…when she shielded Terriermon from Gazimon's claws, all she could think about was protecting her friend. Then that green wisp of energy manifested where her heart was and spread to her left hand. It felt odd, like an incredible rush.

Tohru simply nodded her head quietly, proving Satsuma's claim to be correct. "Because you obtained a Digisoul, you have potential as a member of DATS. However, I will leave the decision to you. If you join, Terriermon will become your partner and fight alongside you to battle other Digimon that enter this world."

This should have been the easiest decision in the world to make for her, but strangely enough it felt more like the hardest. If she were to join, she wouldn't get home until probably evening and for most of the day her grandmother would be left by herself. Anything could happen to her, something that Tohru always worried about. If anything were to happen to her grandmother and she wasn't around to come to her aid…

Sensing Tohru's indecisiveness, Satsuma turned to Yoshino and asked her to retrieve something for him. Nodding her head obediently, the magenta haired girl quickly left the room only to return a few minutes later with a small green and white device in her palm. Handing it over to her boss, she took a few steps back, her eyes now on Tohru.

"Tohru. Take this." Satsuma held his hand out to the girl, the device he'd been given sitting in his open palm. The troubled brunette stepped forward hesitantly and picked the device up, admiring its design and trying to become familiar with the smooth surface beneath her fingertips.

"A Digivice..? You're giving one to me?"

"Yes. Just in case anything happens. With that, Terriermon will be able to evolve to his next form." Satsuma explained.

"..T-This doesn't mean that I'll actually join…but, thank you." Tohru stammered, her mouth feeling dry and her cheeks feeling hot. She quickly slipped the device into the pocket of her jeans, making a mental note to fit a chain through the loop in the top so she could chain it to the belt loop of her pants.

"I'll give you a few days to think it over. With that, you're all dismissed for today." Masaru and Yoshino lifted their arms up to salute their commander before turning to Tohru.

"Let's get you two home. Tohru, I'll take you home last since I want to talk to your grandmother about what's going on." Yoshino spoke in a softer voice to try and lessen some of the girl's nervousness and show that she could be trusted.

Though her body remained tense in the presence of the giant man before her, Yoshino's motherly tone did manage to ease some of the anxiety that built up over the past few minutes. "Okay. I bet grandma is wondering where I am right now…she must be worried sick. I just hope she won't freak out too much…"

* * *

><p>Yoshino and Tohru stepped out of her police car after parking outside the old traditional house and approached the front door, the magenta haired girl pressing the doorbell. After hearing it sound inside the house, a few silent moments passed before the front door opened and Tohru's grandmother stood in front of them. Her eyes blinked in confusion a few times before she noticed the police car behind the two younger girls. "Oh my…Tohru, what's going on?" Her tone filled with concern and worry, bringing her wrinkled hands to her mouth in surprise.<p>

"Mrs. Harima, please don't worry. Tohru's not in any sort of trouble. Would it be alright if I came in for a little while? There's some…things that need explaining right away." Yoshino spoke, using her professional tone but with an added gentleness to ease the elderly woman's concern.

"Ah…yes. I'll brew some tea." Mrs. Harima offered as she opened the door wider and allowed Yoshino and Tohru to step inside before closing the door behind them. She shuffled herself to the kitchen and immediately began to brew some scented herbal tea while the younger females seated themselves on the sofa in the living room. Within a few minutes, the scent of flowers and oranges filled the house.

Terriermon lifted his head up to sniff the air and hummed in satisfaction, a dreamy sigh leaving his mouth. "Something smells really good." He wriggled out of Tohru's arms and waltzed into the kitchen to stand near Mrs. Harima, who didn't really mind having the Digimon near her this time now that she knew he wasn't threatening.

"Your house is very comforting." Yoshino complimented as she began to settle into the sofa and enjoy the warmth that the house seemed to radiate. Tohru's lips curled up into a small grin and she thanked the older girl for the compliment. "I feel like I could fall asleep right here." Yoshino added with a small laugh before a higher pitched voice sounded from seemingly nowhere.

"You probably would too if I weren't around, Yoshino!" A bright blush spread across the girl's cheeks as she grabbed her Digivice and glared down at the tiny screen, meeting her Digimon partner's gaze.

"No I wouldn't, Lalamon!" Yoshino whispered harshly through gritted teeth, a dark shadow appearing over her eyes. Tohru was a bit surprised by the 18 year old's behavior, but then an amused laugh escaped her throat.

"You two seem to get along well. I hope Terriermon and I will become that close soon." Yoshino quickly composed herself and put her Digivice away with a nervous laugh just as Mrs. Harima walked into the living room, carrying a tray with three mugs of piping hot tea in both of her shaky hands. Tohru quickly stood up and assisted her grandmother in putting the tray on the low coffee table in front of them and then helped the elderly woman into the armchair next to the sofa. Terriermon trotted back into the living room and hopped onto Tohru's lap.

Yoshino carefully looped her fingers through one of the mug's handles and picked it up, bringing the rim to her lips and taking a small sip. "Mm…this tea is delicious! Is it home brewed?" A genuine smile stretched over Mrs. Harima's thin lips, her head nodding. "Wow. I wish I could just live here!" Tohru couldn't help but laugh at Yoshino's gleeful expression, it was like she'd been reduced to an excited small child. However, this didn't last long as the young adult regained her professional composure and placed the mug back on the tray before coughing to clear her throat.

She began to explain everything that had gone on today. Tohru's encounter with Gazimon which resulted in both her and Terriermon being injured. The existence of Digimon and the Digital world. DATS and its purprose and finally why Tohru was asked to join in the first place.

Mrs. Harima took all of this information in, simply keeping quiet and nodding her head while sipping some tea every so often. "I see." She focused her attention on her granddaughter now, an approving grin on her wrinkled face. "I think joining would be a very good experience for you Tohru. Please, don't worry about leaving this old woman alone. I'm perfectly capable of handling myself." The elderly woman reassured Tohru with a chuckle.

Tohru's emerald hues left her grandmother's smiling face and gazed down at her own reflection in the tea, her mind racing. A few silent moments passed before the brunette inhaled deeply and exhaled.

"I…will think it through. Just…give me a few days."

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><p>In the end, she still hadn't been swayed. There was still time for her to make her final decision. As Tohru and her grandmother waved goodbye to Yoshino who walked to her police car waving back at them, she bit her bottom lip, her mind still racing and pondering over what she should do.<p>

A sigh left Tohru's lips, her emerald hues fixed on her own reflection in the full body mirror in her room. She stood in front of it in only her undergarments and glancing down at herself, then back at the image in the mirror. Her grandmother always told her that there was nothing wrong with the way she looked, but there was always a small voice of doubt in the back of her mind that said otherwise.

While being a thin girl up top, her hips were just a bit wider than what was considered normal looking for most Japanese girls her age. (Back in 6th grade, I knew someone who was like this. She was thin but her hips and thighs were a bit thicker than what you'd normally see. So yes, this can actually happen) Every time she looked at herself in the mirror, Tohru couldn't help but want to look away in disgust. Every time she went out in public, she saw other thin girls and felt even worse about her own body.

It was the main reason she didn't like skirts or dresses and preferred to dress the way she did. To cover up and hide her body from the world. It was one of the reasons she was a target for bullying by other girls at her school.

Realizing that she still needed to finish dressing, Tohru quickly threw on her school's uniform and glancing at herself in the mirror once again. A frown of dissatisfaction crossed her features and she turned to Terriermon, who watched her with curious eyes and a tilt of his head. Of course, he was a Digimon and wouldn't fully understand what she was feeling at the moment so she decided against discussing it with him right now. Not that she had the time to anyway.

Glancing down at her Digivice, she pointed it at Terriermon and pressed the button in the center. He instantly disappeared from her vision, but reappeared in the small screen on the device and gave her a thumbs up…or at least what looked like one. Once she was ready and had eaten something for breakfast, Tohru was running out the door and bidding her grandmother goodbye until later when she would return from school.

On her way, she spotted Masaru walking just up ahead of her and quickened her pace to catch up with him. Once she was directly behind him, she playfully punched him in the shoulder and smirked when he jumped in surprise.

"Tohru? When did you..?" The taller brunet started, but his voice trailed off as his forest green eyes locked onto her own green hues. The shorter girl began walking beside him and let out a faint chuckle when he smirked back and gave her a playful punch on the arm.

"Morning Masaru!" Tohru chirped, her usual warm smile returning to her features now that she was in the presence of her childhood crush.

"Morning shorty." Masaru's grin stretched across his face at the nickname he'd given her last year and affectionately placed his hand on her head, ruffling her hair. A gesture that had become a usual habit for the hot headed teen every time he hung out with her. "You thinkin' of joining DATS? It'd be awesome if we were teammates, wouldn't it?"

Tohru nodded her head, though she didn't say anything more on the matter, wishing to drop the subject for today. She'd rather just concentrate on getting through another day of school than whether she should join DATS or not. She had a few days to think about it, so why worry about it now?

"Hey, you okay Tohru?" Masaru's voice brought Tohru out of her daze and she gazed up at her hot headed friend, their eyes locking. His bright forest green hues were filled with concern, as if he'd never seen her looking so troubled before. She forced a smile onto her face and nodded her head a bit more enthusiastically.

"Yeah. I'm fine, Masaru. Don't worry about me!" The shorter brunette forced out a laugh and gave him a toothy grin, showing off her pearly whites. "Now let's get to school before we're both late!" She grabbed his wrist and began pulling him in the direction of the junior high school they attended.

"Hey! Tohru, don't pull me!" Masaru shouted as a carefree laugh escaped his throat and his usual grin found its way back onto his tanned face. A light blush dusted his cheeks and he was relieved that she wasn't looking his way at the moment. Though as he stared down at his best friend, there was a small seed of concern for her that planted itself in the back of his mind.

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><p>Tohru let out a small yelp of pain when her back hit the outside brick wall of the school building, her emerald hues focusing on the three taller girls that surrounded her. All three were the type of girls that looked to be incredibly popular, having long and silky smooth hair and perfect bodies. They wore makeup, though it wasn't caked on their faces and they wore plenty of accessories. The one in the middle, the ring leader, stepped forward with a smirk tugging at her lips.<p>

"Why do you even bother wearing the uniform, thunder thighs? You'd probably be better off wearing the guy's uniform since you dress like a boy anyway." Tohru bit her bottom lip and glared at her as she straightened herself up, her hands curling up into fists around the hem of her skirt.

"I-I…" Tohru stammered, her chest tightening from anxiety. "…Just…g-go away…" She stuttered, her voice small and her eyes avoiding the other girl's gaze.

The ring leader, Ayumi, narrowed her eyes and she raised her hand up. Her palm made contact with Tohru's cheek, the slap being hard enough to leave a red mark on the brunette's fair skin. Tohru raised her hand up to touch the spot where she'd been slapped, eyes wide in shock, lip quivering. "Don't talk back to me."

Tohru's breath grew shaky, her chest heaving as she swallowed the lump in her throat. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes but she blinked them back.

"Aw, are you gonna cry, thunder thighs?" Another of the girl taunted her, all three girls giggling, malicious smirks stretching across their glossed lips.

From inside his Digivice, Terriermon could sense that Tohru was in trouble. He was unable to do anything about it though, as he was forbidden from leaving his Digivice while they were out in public.

"So where's your dumbass friend, Masaru?" Ayumi questioned in a taunting tone, crossing her arms over her chest. A shadow loomed over the blonde haired girl, a certain hot headed brunet standing behind her with his arms crossed, forest green eyes blazing with anger.

"Right behind you!"

All three girls tensed up and slowly turned around, eyes wide as they stared up at the great Masaru Daimon. "U-Um…w-we…weren't…" Ayumi started, but quickly shut herself up when he snarled at them, lips curling as he bared his grit teeth to them. Ayumi and her clique screamed in unison and sped off in the other direction as quickly as humanely possible.

Masaru dropped the delinquent act and approached Tohru, his expression softening as he put a hand on her shoulder, his thumb rubbing small circles into the material of her blazer. "You okay, Tohru?" His voice was strangely quiet as he gazed down at his childhood friend. He knew about the bullying she had to deal with and always came to help her by scaring the bullies off.

It was a few moments of silence before Tohru actually answered him, her voice cracking as she was on the verge of tears. She didn't look up at him and instead leaned her head against his chest, feeling the taller boy's body tense up at the sudden contact, only for his arms to wrap around her. "…Y-Yeah. I'll be okay…thanks for helping me.." She tried to put on a brave smile and gazed up at him, though judging by his expression, he wasn't really convinced.

"If you're sure.." His voice trailed off as the two separated and he ruffled her hair affectionately. "Anyway, I gotta get going to DATS now, so I'll see you later Tohru." Masaru grinned down at the shorter brunette, oblivious to the blush staining her cheeks as he gave her a small wave and ran off.

Tohru waved back, her smile slowly fading as she watched his back until he was out of her line of vision. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she began her trip home from school. It wasn't an incredibly long walk, but the school was a good ten to fifteen minutes away from her grandmother's house. As she was walking, she fished her Digivice from her pocket and glanced down at the small screen, gazing into her partner's worried eyes.

"Tohru..? What happened?" Terriermon's concerned voice came from the device's built in speaker. He clearly wanted to be let out in order to comfort her.

"Well…those girls…they always bully me…kind of like what Gazimon did to you." Tohru explained, wishing she could just bring her partner out right now and hug him to her for comfort. Once she got home, she would definitely be hugging him for the rest of the day.

That's when Terriermon's expression changed, growing more alarmed by the second. "T-Tohru…I sense a Digimon!" Tohru's eyes went wide, halting in her tracks as she began to glance around in search of the Digimon her partner detected.

"W-Where is it, Terriermon?" She questioned almost frantically, unaware of the creature stalking up behind her until she heard a sinister cackle, spinning around on her heel and coming face to face with the very Digimon that had gotten away the day before.

"Gazimon?!" Said Digimon bared his teeth in a vicious grin, taking slow steps towards Tohru, blind hatred in his eyes.

"That's right. Did ya miss me? Cuz I certainly didn't miss you." He cackled loudly as Tohru glared right back at him and raised up her Digivice.

"Terriermon! Realize!" A green beam shot forth from the device once she pressed the button in the center, and Terriermon materialized in front of her looking ready to fight. He let out a grunt as he got into a fighting stance and glared daggers into Gazimon's skull.

"Heh…still think you can beat me, Terriermon? We all know I'm still stronger than you are, especially when you've never evolved before!" Gazimon began to glow brightly and he grew bigger and bigger, changing in shape and becoming something demon-like. Terriermon's eyes widened, fear consuming him as he stared up at the large Digimon hovering above the ground.

"D-Devidramon…"

This was the first time Tohru ever witnessed a Digimon evolving, and she was absolutely terrified of the new form Gazimon took on. He was huge now, and could fly. Fighting him was going to be much more difficult, and possibly even deadly. Devidramon snarled, baring his sharp fangs and his multiple red eyes narrowed at her. His large black wings spread, the wing bones making a sickening cracking noise as the demonic digimon forced them out. It was clear that this was Gazimon's first time ever evolving and he hadn't ever used his wings before now.

Tohru stood frozen in fear, eyes wide and her breathing hitching in her throat. Terriermon stood in front of her, intending on protecting her no matter what harm came to him. She knew they couldn't battle Devidramon here, not when they were surrounded by houses full of innocent people that could get hurt. Devidramon took a step towards the duo, Terriermon's body stiffening as he readied himself for the first attack.

Devidramon let out a loud, ear piercing roar and flew up into the air before diving straight towards Tohru. The terrified girl tried to move her legs, the voice inside her head screaming at her to get the hell out of the way before she became this Digimon's next meal. Terriermon pushed on Tohru's legs frantically, but the petrified girl wouldn't budge. "T-Tohru!" The smaller Digimon's voice reached her eardrums, momentarily snapping her out of her fear induced stupor. The brunette quickly picked Terriermon up into her arms and dove out of the way of the oncoming attack. She skidded across the ground and felt the earth tremble as Devidramon crashed into the ground.

The demonic looking creature snarled as he picked himself up and spread his torn and tattered wings again as he began to fly towards her. Tohru shot up from the ground and began running as fast as her legs could carry her. "Terriermon, what should we do?! W-We can't just...just fight him here! Innocent people'll get hurt!" Tohru shouted in between gasps of air. She was running out of breath already and burning pain tore through her legs. What a great time to be out of shape.

"We have to, Tohru! We can beat him!" Terriermon exclaimed with confidence.

"No! He's stronger now, and you're still recovering! I can't let you fight in your condition!" Tohru snapped as she glanced over her shoulder and saw Devidramon closing the distance between them. "He's catching up to us!"

"I don't care if I'm still recovering! I'm your friend and I'm gonna protect you!" With determination in his eyes, Terriermon jumped out of her arms and stood in front of her protectively. He began to spin his body around rapidly, a small tornado forming. "Petite Twister!" The attack launched at Devidramon, hitting the larger Digimon's snout and stopping him from getting any closer. Though this was only temporary as the attack only seemed to stun him. Devidramon recovered and with his large crimson red claws, he slashed at Terriermon and sent the smaller Digimon flying backwards. Terriermon's small form hit the ground with a loud thud and he struggled just to stand up again. Claw marks were left on his abdominal area where he'd been slashed.

"Terriermon!" Tohru screamed as she sprinted to her injured friend, but was stopped by Terriermon's voice echoing through the air.

"Don't!" The rabbit-like Digimon grit his teeth as he stood up, wobbling a bit to keep his balance. "I don't want you to get hurt again because of me, Tohru. I can't keep running away from him...I need to face him head on! I need to prove to him that I'm not scared of him anymore!"

His words resonated throughout her mind and she wondered how he could stand tall despite how intimidating his opponent was. How could he stand up to Devidramon with such determination without any fear? How could he...appear so strong when he was much weaker than Devidramon was? It was true; Terriermon was much stronger than she was. He had the inner strength to stand fearless in the face of danger.

Why...why couldn't she find that same inner strength that she needed to stand up to her own bullies?

"Terriermon...please, don't do this! How can you be so brave when he's so much stronger than you are?!" Tohru shouted as tears formed in her scared and pleading eyes and threatened to fall.

"Its because of you, Tohru! You were the one that gave me the strength I needed to realize that I could stand up to him!" Terriermon shouted, his back still facing her. "Its because I saw how much you and I were alike! That's why I want to fight to protect you!"

Tohru stared at her friend's back in awe, having been left completely and utterly speechless by Terriermon's answer. Her tears fell freely down her rosy cheeks as Terriermon launched another attack at Devidramon. Even if he was weaker, he was still fighting with everything he had. "He got stronger...because of me..." She murmured to herself as the same wispy green energy from the day before formed over her heart and engulfed her entire left arm. Her eyes widened at this sudden occurance before they drifted down to the Digivice in her hand.

Terriermon was right...they needed to stand their ground and fight. If they didn't, they wouldn't be the only ones that might not make it out of this alive. She lifted up the Digivice and held it out in front of her and pressed the palm of her left hand against the top of the device. At that moment, she experienced the tingling sensation of something being drained from her body. The green wisp was sucked up into the device and suddenly words formed in her mind.

"Digisoul..Charge!"

Terriermon's body began to glow a bright green color and soon he had grown much bigger in size. His hands were replaced with vulcan machine guns, a bullet belt was strapped across his chest and over his shoulder, he now wore a pair of dark blue jeans on his bottom half and the claws on his feet appeared bigger and sharper. His head to the tips of his long ears was now colored green instead of the other way around and red markings appeared on his face.

"W-Whoa...is...is that really Terriermon..?" Tohru murmured to herself in complete awe as she watched her little friend change.

"Yeah, its me! But I'm Gargomon, now!" Gargomon glanced back at Tohru and gave her a toothy grin and winked. He turned back to face Devidramon, who was growling and baring his fangs at Gargomon. "You think that's gonna scare me? Time to show you what I'm made of!" Devidramon let out another shrill, ear piercing roar and spread his tattered wings once again, preparing to soar up into the sky. Tohru raised her hands up to cover her ears as the screech nearly shattered her eardrums. The commotion had caused the entire neighborhood to exit their homes just to see what was going on, only for the citizens to scream in terror or watch in excitment.

"Gatling Arm!" Gargomon shouted as he cocked his vulcans and began firing a round of bullets rapidly at his much larger opponent. Devidramon let out another shrill cry and flew up into the air to avoid getting hit. Gargomon smirked and ran at a nearby tree, jumped and bounced up its branches with rabbit-like agility. In mid-air, he began firing off more rounds but missed as Devidramon cut through the air. The demonic looking Digimon then darted towards his smaller opponent and with his long red claws raised, used his Crimson Nail and slashed at Gargomon. The attack hit its target and Gargomon let out a cry of pain as he came spiraling down and crashed into the ground.

"Gargomon!" Tohru cried out as she rushed to her partner's side, only to be knocked back by a sudden shockwave that was created by Devidramon slicing the air above her. She was forced to the ground by the attack and struggled to pick herself up. Gargomon growled as he watched his human friend get knocked back, which only motivated him to get right back up so he could continue to protect her. Devidramon swooped down and grabbed Tohru in one of his elongated clawed arms and flew back up into the sky. "Let me go!" The brunette shouted as she wriggled around in his large grasp, only to feel a huge pressure squeezing her body and making her scream in agony.

"TOHRU!" Gargomon's small dark eyes were wide with fear for Tohru's safety, but then narrowed in anger at Devidramon for putting his friend's life in danger. He used the trees and rooftops of houses to launch himself up into the air again and pointed his vulcans at Devidramon. "You'll pay for hurting her!" Seconds before he could begin shooting, Devidramon grinned maliciously and held Tohru up in front of himself. Gargomon's eyes widened the moment he realized that if he let himself start firing off more bullets, Tohru would get hit as well. Devidramon took this chance to slash at Gargomon again, sending him crashing into a tree and causing it to topple over from the impact.

"G-Gargo..mon!" Tohru struggled to breathe as the pressure on her body grew tighter and tighter. Her vision was starting to become cloudy and dark and she felt herself beginning to slip into unconsciousness.

"Sunshine Beam!"

A high pitched voice reached her eardrums and brought her back to a conscious state. Devidramon screeched as he was hit with rays of pure light and was forced to let go of Tohru. She screamed as she felt herself begin to fall, only to land softly on two giant leaves. She looked up with widened emerald eyes at her savior, Sunflowmon. "W-Wha..?" The giant sunflower Digimon brought her down to safety on the ground where Tohru noticed Yoshino and Masaru sprinting over to her with worried expressions.

"Tohru! You okay?!" Yoshino asked, her usually firm and professional voice laced with nothing but genuine concern for the younger female. Masaru ran ahead of her and grabbed hold of Tohru's shoulders, his intense green eyes staring into her own. The way he was looking at her, he seemed...scared. Scared that if they'd been too late, he would have lost his best friend. His hands were gripping her shoulders so tightly they were trembling, his knuckles turning white.

"You're okay...right?" He questioned with a heavy amount of restraint in his voice. What was he restraining himself from? Tohru nodded her head and looked over at Gargomon, who had gotten back up again. This time, he looked pissed. "Tohru!" She turned her attention back to Masaru, who for once had a stern glint in his firey gaze. "Don't worry. We're here to back him up. Stay behind with Yoshino." Before she could react, Masaru hopped onto Sunflowmon's leafy arm and the sunflower Digimon flew up towards Devidramon. He growled as he neared the demonic looking creature and leapt up into the air, fist raised and punched Devidramon near one of his red eyes. An orange wisp engulfed his fist and Sunflowmon caught him as he was falling.

"You ready Agumon?!"

"I'm ready, Aniki!"

Masaru raised up his orange and white Digivice iC and prepared to use his Digisoul to make Agumon evolve, but Gargomon stepped in front of them and shook his head. "No! This is my battle...he went too far the moment he got Tohru involved in this fight and nearly killed her. If anyone is gonna beat him, its me!" Gargomon stated as he stepped forward and raised up his guns, aiming at Devidramon. "But...thanks for the help, you guys." He started firing off several rounds of bullets straight into Devidramon, relishing in his enemy's screeches of agony.

"Hey, nobody tells me to stay out of a fight-" Masaru started, stepping forward with his fists clenched tightly. Yoshino sighed in exasperation and shook her head as she grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"This time, Masaru, stay out of it and let him handle it. Like Gargomon said, this is his fight." Masaru's intense gaze softened when Gargomon's previous words echoed in his mind. To Gargomon, this was more than just any old fight against a Digimon. This was a personal issue between him and his opponent that could only be settled if Gargomon beat Devidramon himself. Masaru nodded his head and stepped back, as did Agumon.

Gargomon bounced off of some rooftops and trees again to launch himself up in the air, landing on Devidramon's back and pressing his vulcans to the Digimon's back and firing off. Once he was satisfied, he bounced off as Devidramon began his descent towards the ground. Gargomon landed on the ground on one foot and bounced back up again, raising up his guns and firing off more rounds into Devidramon from below. "Bunny Pummel!" Devidramon roared in searing pain and fell to the ground, writhing as he lay sprawled out in the middle of the street.

Suddenly, Devidramon began to glow and in his place lay a large egg. A Digiegg.

Gargomon panted, his entire body covered in scraps, scratches and bruises. He then collapsed to the ground and de-evolved back into Terriermon. Tohru rushed to her partner's side and kneeled down to scoop him up into her arms. A smile made its way onto her face as she held the tired and battered Digimon. "You were great out there, Terriermon...you...you protected me." Tears formed on the brim of her eyelids and fell freely down her cheeks, landing on Terriermon's soft cheek. "Thank you."

While Masaru and Agumon got Tohru and Terriermon back to the police car, Yoshino erased all the memories of the people who witnessed the fight. Which was an entire neighborhood, to her dismay. Once that process was over and dealt with, Yoshino returned to her police vehicle and got back in the driver's seat and began to drive towards Mrs. Harima's home. The car ride was silent, nobody made the effort to bring up a topic to discuss. Nobody really felt like making small talk, especially after the battle that had just occured. Yoshino and Masaru were both thinking the same exact thing, and they hoped that they weren't right.

What if, because of what happened, Tohru would be too scared to join DATS?

The police car stopped in front of Mrs. Harima's old fashioned home and Yoshino turned in her seat to lock gazes with Tohru expectantly. "So...what's your answer? Do you still want to join DATS?" All eyes were on the young brunette, waiting in anticipation for her answer. For several long moments, Tohru didn't say a word. Her lips made no movement to indicate she was going to say something. They all leaned in, eyes still locked on her, the tension growing so thick it was almost unbearable for Masaru to handle.

Tohru's lips then parted and began to move, her answer leaving those soft pink lips clear as day.

"Yes. I want to join DATS."

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><p><strong>EDIT: I decided to re-write part of this chapter since I wasn't satisfied with it. Now I can finally continue writing chapter 5! I have half of it done already, so it should be out pretty soon!<strong>

**Also, I'm sorry but I lied about having a chapter out every week. Doing that is gonna stress me out so there will be a new chapter out every two weeks now. I think that's fair enough. c:**

**Next chapter is when I actually start following the plot of the show. The first four chapters were more of an introduction if anything.**


	5. Wind Against the Flames

Finding Strength Within || Digimon Savers/Data Squad

.:: ||Chapter 5: Wind against the Flames|| ::.

**Okay, so uh...I decided to rewrite this chapter. Please don't be angry with me! I just really want to give my readers the type of chapter they deserve to read after making them wait so long. And to be honest, I rushed this chapter the first time around. I just didn't feel satisfied with it. I'm a bit...of a neurotic in that way...again I'm really sorry! xc**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Savers or its characters. Nor do I own Rosa, she belongs to my good friend. I only own my OCs.**

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><p>Tohru let out a grunt as she struggled in her sad attempts to get into the spandex bodysuit she was given. She began to mentally curse whoever had thought making this the official DATS uniform as she finally pulled the suit up past her hips. Getting the rest of it on was much easier and the brunette soon pulled on the short sleeved jacket that all DATS members had to wear over the bodysuit. She clipped on a white belt around her waist and tried to suck in her stomach a bit so it wouldn't seem so tight on her, but she couldn't hold it like that for too long. After pulling on her white knee-high boots, she stood up and peered into the fullbody mirror attached to the wall.<p>

Her eyebrows furrowed in disapproval, her emerald hues scanning her reflection up and down. "I look horrible in this..." Tohru mumbled to herself and Terriermon was quick to protest against this claim.

"No you don't Tohru! If you looked horrible, I would have told you so!" The stuffed animal looking Digimon reassured his human partner, hopping up onto her head and laying on his stomach. His long and floppy ears hung down the sides of her head. Tohru rolled her eyes at his failed attempt to convince her that she didn't look so terrible in this very uncomfortable, tight fitting uniform.

"Thanks Terriermon, at least I know you'll always be honest with me." Tohru droned sarcastically as a small chuckle rumbled from her throat and a tiny grin tugged at her lips. For a few more moments, the brunette found herself studying her reflection in the mirror. Her uniform was similar in appearance to Yoshino's, it went down to her mid thigh instead of being an entirely fullbodied suit like Masaru's. She sported the same short jacket to wear over her upper area and a white belt around her waist along with the same knee high boots. The only real difference between the two female uniforms was the color. Tohru's was green and Yoshino's was magenta, matching her hair and eye color.

Breathing out a heavy sigh of defeat, her shoulders drooped as Tohru replaced Terriermon on top of her head with her gray beanie and held him in her arms to her chest. She exited the changing room and reluctantly walked into the main surveillance area. The moment she stepped through the automatic double doors, the familiar sound of her childhood friend's angry complaints echoed off the metal walls. From what she could tell, he was pissed off because his target, a PetiteMeramon, was able to get away from him.

Masaru sulked in the corner, sitting backwards in a swivel chair across the room from Yoshino who was starting to regret letting him try to secure a Digimon on his own. "I kind of figured it was too early to let you do it on your own..." The magenta haired girl sighed with a shrug of her shoulders. A silent turtle-like Digimon called Kamemon went around with a tray holding tea cups and a pot of piping hot tea. He offered some to Yoshino, who graciously accepted the offer. Kamemon turned and walked over to Tohru, offering her some tea but she smiled and shook her head.

Floating near Yoshino's head was what Tohru presumed to be the older girl's partner, a pink and green flower bud looking creature. It had two black hollow dots for eyes and a constantly open oval shaped mouth and stubby little limbs. A small yellow root was sprouting out the top of its head. Tohru thought the little flower bud was cute.

"Um...good morning Yoshino, Masaru." Tohru greeted her comrades as she approached the sulking teenager. The moment he heard his childhood friend's voice Masaru's head perked up and a wide grin formed on his lips. The taller boy stood up, bringing Tohru into a semi-headlock and giving her a noogie.

"Jeez, shorty! You don't have to be so timid!" Masaru's laugh was light and carefree as he ruffled her head. Tohru had gone red in the face and her body tensed up from the sudden contact. The auburn haired boy released her from under his arm and affectionately pet her head. Yoshino had been observing this little scene before her, thinking it strange at first that Masaru's mood would change so suddenly. Though she recalled how his forest green eyes had lit up the moment his close friend walked into the room. It became clear to her then and a tiny hint of a smile tugged at her lips.

"R-Right..." Tohru sheepishly glanced down and lightly pulled at her bangs.

The sound of the automatic double doors slid open-gaining the attention of the three already in the room-and two newcomers entered the surveillance room. A boy who looked to be around Masaru's age and height and a much shorter, tan skinned girl. The boy had light blonde hair and the prettiest cerulean eyes Tohru had ever seen. They seemed to stand out due to his very pale complexion. The girl had mid-back length wavy dark brown hair and light brown eyes. Her complexion was actually even tanner than Masaru's, making her look more foreign and exotic. The boy's DATS uniform was completely blue while the girl's was orange. In the boy's hands was a large egg with an odd pattern; a Digiegg.

The blonde male placed the Digiegg on the counter top in front of Yoshino, his expression completely emotionless and stoney. "Digimon secured." Just being in this boy's presence, Tohru got the feeling that he wasn't someone she could get along with...or rather, someone that Masaru wouldn't get along with. In fact, her prediction was spot on as Masaru looked as if he wanted to tear this guy's pretty boy face off.

"Tohma-sama!" The high pitched squeals of Miki and Megumi echoed in the large room as the two aformentioned older girls ran over to the blonde boy, presumed by Tohru to be named 'Tohma.' "When did you get back?" Megumi added with another fangirl squeal. The girl who had walked in with him stood a good distance away from the other members, leaning up against the wall and crossing her arms over her chest. Her Digimon partner, an orange lion cub-like creature with flames coming out of his tail and the jewel attached to his forehead, was standing beside her and mimicking her pose.

"So annoying..." The silent girl mumbled, her brown hues glaring daggers into the backs of Miki and Megumis' heads. Tohru glanced back at the tan skinned girl curiously, wondering if she was annoyed by all the squealing or...if there was another reason.

"Who're you?!" Masaru shouted from across the room only for his question to be disregarded by the blonde as mere background noise. "Gonna ignore me, huh..?" The auburn haired boy growled lowly, fists clenching tightly as he stalked over to the group. The sudden loud thump of Masaru's fist slamming against the counter top was successful in startling Tohru, making her flinch before she rushed over. Worried that her best friend was going to cause trouble with the blonde newcomer, she was ready to try and calm his firey rage if need be. "Hey! Are you listening?!" Masaru spat, his anger boiling as the blonde boy continued to outright disregard his presence.

Even Tohru had to admit, this kind of behavior towards her best friend was even striking a nerve within herself. Who did this guy think he was? He had this stuck up air about him, like he thought he was better than his peers. Masaru's forest green gaze traveled over to the egg sitting ontop of the counter before glaring a hole into Tohma's head. "That was my prey!" The hot headed boy growled when he realized that this egg belonged to the same Digimon he had tried to capture before.

Tohma silently turned to stare back at Masaru before starting to walk toward him. Thinking that the blonde was looking for a fight, the brunet raised his fists up with a cocky smirk playing on his lips. However, Tohma simply walked past Masaru without so much as a passing glance and approached Satsuma and raised his arm up to salute his superior. Mouth dropping open in disbelief, Masaru turned on his heel to glare at the back of Tohma's head. Tohru took a step toward her childhood friend with the intent of attempting to hold him back if he were to fly off the handle.

"Tohma H. Norstein. I'm here to take up my position back in the Japanese division after returning from the European division." Satsuma stood from his chair and nodded in acknowledgement towards the blonde. Norstein...? That seemed like a foreign last name, so Tohru figured that he was half European and half Japanese. The younger looking girl then stepped away from the wall and stood beside the blue clad teenager, raising her hand up to salute their Captain.

"Rosa Bosque. I've returned from the Spanish division and will be taking up my position here in the Japanese division." The moment she spoke, Tohru took note of the heavy accent present in Rosa's voice. This was only verified by her mention of having come from the Spanish division of DATS. Her earlier claim was right, this girl was a straight up foreigner from Spain.

"Its good to have you both back in our division." Satsuma welcomed them both before turning to Masaru, who was coughing into his hand and pacing around behind Tohma as if he wanted to get their attention. "Masaru, why don't you introduce yourself to-"

"Why do I have to introduce myself to him? I'm his superior after all, even if it is by only a few days!" Masaru stated, only for this claim to be shot down by the older man.

"Actually Masaru, Tohma is YOUR superior." Satsuma corrected the hot headed teenager, earning himself a confused stare from Masaru. Yoshino was quick to jump in and add onto this new and irritating piece of information.

"Tohma was actually working here in the Japanese division until about six months ago when the European branch requested his help." Yoshino stated matter of factly in that bored tone of hers that Tohru had grown so used to hearing on days like this. "The same goes for Rosa, who was sent off to the Spanish division around the same time to help out there. So she's your superior as well, Masaru."

"W-Wha...? You mean that pipsqueak?" Masaru questioned with widened eyes as he pointed in Rosa's direction, earning him a rather nasty glare from the now pissed off looking Spaniard.

"Better watch what you say, idiot..." An angry mumble was heard from Rosa, but was ignored by the auburn haired male, who still held a look of pure confusion.

"How can someone like him be my superior when he's the same age as me and Tohru?" Masaru questioned increduously as he kept glancing over at Tohma. He was answered by an unhealthy, heaping dose of high pitched squealing courtesy of Miki and Megumi; the unofficial Tohma H. Norstein fanclub.

"Its because he's a genius! He graduated from the prestigious Stockholm University's Institution of Science at the age of thirteen!" Megumi squealed as she held hands with Miki and revelled in their fangirlish joy together. Tohru's eyes widened and she blinked as she turned her shocked stare to Tohma. This guy was only fourteen years old and he was already out of college?! She was still only in middle school! Needless to say, the brunette began to feel vastly inferior to the blonde boy which only contributed to shooting her confidence down even further. Masaru shared her shock in learning that the blonde was a genius at such a young age.

"His family is also of Austrian nobility! So he's pretty much a prince!" Miki added along with another high pitched squeal erupting from both her mouth and Megumi's. Terriermon clamped his stubby hands over his ears to try and block out all the fangirl squeals, a whimper rumbling in his throat.

"I'm glad you're not like this Tohru.." The rabbit-like Digimon whispered, annoyance evident in his hushed tone. Tohru had flinched a bit when the squeals really went right through her eardrums and nodded her head in agreement. Sure, she did think that Tohma was rather handsome and he had really pretty eyes. Tohru just didn't find rich pretty boys like him to be attractive to her. Her type of guy was...well...

"What'd you say?! I dare you to say that again, blondie!" Masaru's growls snapped Tohru out of her thoughts and she drew her attention to the growing argument between the two boys. Tohma seemed unaffected by the hot headed teen getting into his face, Masaru's shaking fists raised in anger, ceruelan hues glaring back into a firey sea of forest green.

"I said that DATS has no need for someone like you. You don't take your job seriously and you'll only get in the way." Tohma repeated himself bluntly, not once flinching when Masaru's muscles had moved as if he were going to swing a punch at him. Masaru had refrained from doing so, however, as even he had some ounce of self control in him. "You're loud and you only seem to rely on your fists to get anything done. You don't know how to use tactical strategy in battle. This will only result in your failure."

The more Tohru listened to this guy insult her best friend, the more her repressed anger began to boil deep within her. Fists clenched and trembling, Tohru's lips parted and the words she tried to hold back began to spill out, aimed right at Tohma.

"S-Stop it! How could you even say that to Masaru when you don't know a thing about him?!" Silence filled the room and Tohru soon realized every individual in the room was staring wide eyed at her, expressing their shock and surprise at her rather sudden and uncharacteristic outburst. The girl shrunk under their wide eyed gazes and sheepishly twiddeled her fingers, face turning red as embarrassment replaced her anger.

There was one individual, however, unphased by the sudden outburst that came from the usually quiet Tohru. Tohma drew his cold, stony gaze from his hot headed rival to the girl who had defended him. "You are not fit to work for DATS either. You seem to only rely soley on your emotions and your attachment to Masaru has clouded your judgement of his behavior. DATS members need to be independent and confident, you lack both of these qualities."

His sharp, criticizing words cut right through Tohru's very being like the blade of a knife. She outwardly flinched at every single belittling comment made at her personal flaws. What hurt her most was being told she lacked any confidence or independence. The worst part about this was that everything he said was right. Tohru tore her hurt filled gaze away from the taller blonde, opting to look at the floor to hide her flustered appearance. Tears formed in her eyes despite how much she mentally screamed at herself not to start crying in front of everyone.

A low growl erupted from Masaru's throat, fists clenched even tighter, body trembling as his anger finally reached its boiling point. He could handle being insulted by this rich pretty boy, but the moment he decided to insult Tohru was the final nail in the coffin for him. "You son of a bitch!" The auburn haired male broke free of all restraint and swung his fist, intending to punch Tohma in his snooty face. "I'm gonna make you apologize to her!"

Tohru's head jerked up at her best friend's words, tear filled eyes wide. He was...he was defending her. Just like he always had. However...that was the problem.

If Masaru has to keep coming to my rescue, I'll never learn to stand up for myself.

She had no confidence in herself.

She was dependent on him.

Everything Tohma said about her was right.

Before Masaru's fist could connect with its target, Tohma caught his fist in the palm of his own hand and held it there without any trouble at all. "See? You rely only on your brute strength and act before you can think things through. Do you really think you can beat me at the level you're at?"

"Yeah, I think I can take you on at the level I'm at! In fact, why don't we settle this with a boxing match right now?!" Masaru spat, pulling his fist away from Tohma's grip and staring the blonde boy down, trying to intimidate him with his firey glare. Despite his efforts to scare Tohma out of his boots (Quite literally, as Tohma is wearing boots), the intelligent blonde remained emotionless and cold.

"Fine then. I guess words won't get through to that thing in that head of yours you call a brain." With that, the two boys and the rest of the DATS members currently occupying the space made their way into the training room. In the middle of the large area was a boxing ring and standing on either side across from each other were the two feuding rivals; Masaru (representing the color red) and Tohma (representing the color blue).

Tohru stood outside of the ring on Masaru's side, silently praying that he comes out the victor. Yoshino stood beside her, the magenta haired girl's face displaying her annoyance at this whole fiasco. She clearly knew who was going to win this boxing match and found it to be entirely pointless. Agumon was loudly shouting words of encouragement to his human partner and Terriermon was sleeping on top of Tohru's head, having grown bored from the lack of action today. Lalamon floated by the boxing ring carrying a small mallet; it was her job to ring the bell and start the match.

Standing outside Tohma's side of the ring were Miki and Megumi, the two fangirls acting as his own personal cheerleaders. Satsuma stood a few feet away, silently observing the match from a distance. Tohma's partner, Gaomon, stood behind his tamer in complete silence. From what Tohru could see, Gaomon was a Digimon of few words and only spoke when spoken to. He was loyal to his human partner and would obey any of the blonde's orders. Gaomon was a blue and white Shiba Inu-like Digimon who sported a red headband around his head and matching boxing gloves. He always responded to Tohma's commands with a "Yes, Master."

Rosa and her partner Coronamon leaned against the wall away from the other DATS members, both human and Digimon in the same pose with their arms crossed over their chests and watching the fight emotionlessly.

"Masaru, put a headguard on! You're gonna need it!" Yoshino scolded the auburn haired male, thrusting out a red headguard in front of herself. The teenager looked at her from over his shoulder and shook his head, claiming that he didn't need it and pointing out that Tohma wasn't wearing one either. Yoshino gave up with a shrug and tossed the headguard aside and sat in a folding chair beside the ring.

"Go Aniki! Beat him to a pulp!" Agumon called out to the hot blooded boy.

"Y-You can do it, Masaru!" Tohru cheered him on to show her support and pumped her fist in the air enthusiastically. "Show him who's the best street fighter around!" Masaru glanced down at his best friend and gave her a thumbs up and winked, causing Tohru's heart to thump in her chest and her cheeks turned red.

Lalamon swung the mallet and rang the bell, signaling for the match to start. Immediately, Masaru charged in toward his rival with fists raised and took a swing at the blonde. Tohma easily dodged the other boy's punch by stepping back.

"Is that all you can do..? You'll never get anywhere if all you rely on is brute strength without any kind of strategy." Masaru gritted his teeth angrily, eyebrows furrowing as his eyes narrowed.

"Shut up!" He swung his fists at Tohma again and again, but each time he aimed a punch at the rich blonde's face he simply stepped back to dodge it. Tohru felt a seed of worry beginning to plant itself in her stomach. Was Tohma really that much stronger than Masaru?

"Why is it that you joined DATS in the first place?" Tohma questioned the boy who was continuing to throw more and more punches at him.

"So I can fight strong guys like you!" Masaru spat, attempting to throw another punch at Tohma's face but was caught by surprise when the blonde socked him right in the stomach. Masaru stumbled back as he had the wind knocked out of him. Clutching his abdomenal area in pain he tried to get back the oxygen that he'd lost.

"That's it? How boring..."

"I said, shut up!" Masaru growled, Tohma's words only fueling his anger as he kept assaulting the blonde with punch after punch. None of his offensive onslaughts connected with their target. Tohma knew that this whole match was pointless and Masaru was someone who was beyond help. In one powerful swing, he sent a punch right into the hot blooded male's jaw and sent him flying to the ground.

Tohru let out a small gasp and flinched when Tohma's fist connected with Masaru's jaw. Her emerald hues wide, stomach churning and twisting in knots as she watched her best friend lay on the floor of the ring. He needed to get up, or he'll lose to Tohma!

From across the room, Rosa hadn't moved from her spot since the match began. She had heard that Tohma was strong, having beaten Olympic champion boxers in the past. Seeing him in action for herself though, was quite impressive. She had a feeling that the hot headed idiot would lose to the boy she secretly admired. "That ended quickly...how boring..."

"That boy fighting Tohma is quite the stubborn mule, isn't he?" Coronamon spoke for what seeemed like the first time today, never taking his big green eyes off the match.

"He sure is, Coronamon. Though its good that at least someone believes in him.." The Spaniard turned her gaze to a concerned and worried looking Tohru before going back to watching the match.

Yoshino began the count down the moment Masaru's back hit the floor. As each number left her lips, Tohru could do nothing but watch helplessly as her friend's chances at losing this match were becoming greater and greater by the second.

"1...2...3...4..."

"Come on, Masaru! You can still win this!" Tohru called out to the auburn haired boy as he struggled to stand up on his feet. She wanted to climb into the ring and help him up herself, to be his support like she always has been. However, if she did that he would lose automatically.

"5...6..."

He was still struggling to stand up, but the pain he felt was starting to get to him. No...he...he couldn't lose to Tohma! Masaru was the best fighter she knew!

"7...8..."

"Please get up Masaru!"

"9...10!" Lalamon rang the bell to end the match and solidifying Tohma's flawless victory. A round of squeals could be heard echoeing throughout the room from the blonde's fangirls. Tohru's arms dropped to her sides, emerald eyes staring at her fallen crush in disbelief. He...he lost?

"Rude and vulgar people aren't needed in DATS..." Tohma said bitterly as he crouched down to climb out of the ring. Masaru stood up panting for air, not yet ready to accept that he was just defeated by a prissy rich blonde.

"I'm..not done yet, blondie." Masaru's voice strained, still clutching at his throbbing abdomen. Pain pulsed through his stomach each time he breathed or even moved. "This isn't over..." He raised his fists once more, eager to continue their fight. Tohma's eyebrows furrowed, his patience wearing thin from his hot headed rival's attitude.

But wait, the match was over wasn't it? Of course, Masaru wasn't going to admit defeat yet-especially to this "prissy blonde asshole" as he would put it-and he wasn't about to forfeit his title as Japan's number one ultimate fighter.

"This match is over. Face it, you lost."

A determined smirk played on Masaru's lips, a chuckle erupting from his throat. "What match? This is a real fight! So get back in the ring and face me!" Now irritated beyond belief, Tohma changed his mind and got back into the ring only to have a punch thrown at him by Masaru. The powerful punch connected with his jaw and sent him staggering back and bounced against the rope barrier keeping him from falling out of the ring.

"Doesn't feel good to be the one on the receiving end of a punch, does it?" Masaru taunted as he panted after exerting some more of his energy just to deliver that punch into Tohma's jaw. The brunet couldn't control the smug smirk that formed on his lips. He'd finally given this asshat a peice of his mind in the only way he knew how, with his fists.

Rosa's bored expression shifted slowly into one of slight annoyance, but hidden in her brown hues was a hint of interest and amusement. Anyone that could land a hit on Tohma had to be at least a bit stronger than the average guy, though she doubted that this occurance was anything other than pure dumb luck.

The moment Masaru stood up to continue the fight, Tohru's eyes lit up at the very sight of her childhood friend refusing to give up. That was what she admired about him. His bravery, strength, confidence and optimism. Who cares that he lost a dumb fight? It didn't matter if he lost because he was still willing to continue the fight whether there was a loser or a winner.

Tohma got to his feet and returned to his composed state, cerulean hues glaring at the boy in front of him. The two boys raised their fists and charged at each other, swinging at their opponent with all their might. The moment their fists connected with the other's jaw the tension in the room grew thick as silence fell over every individual. Both boys staggered back, each having a newly formed bruise on their cheeks before their bodies slowly came crashing down to the floor.

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><p>Tohru exhaled a sigh as she stuck a medical bandage onto Masaru's bruised cheek, earning a pained grunt from the auburn haired boy. She closed the medical kit in her lap, giving her friend a concerned glance. Unfortunately for him, the match with Tohma ended with no winner. She wasn't about to remind the street fighter of that as she didn't want to damage his wounded pride any further. The reserved girl opened her mouth to try and cheer him up but her mind couldn't come up with the right words.<p>

Rosa walked by the pair, mumbled an insult aimed at Masaru in her native tongue, before walking over to her favorite spot to stand; the wall. Coronamon followed her and copied her signature pose of leaning her back against the wall's surface and crossing her arms over her chest. Judging from her lone wolf attitude and her body language, she was putting up a facade of being a cool and composed person.

She seems like a mean person, but maybe that's just an act? Tohru didn't want to judge the Spaniard just because of her 'leave me alone, I'm too cool for you' attitude. Maybe she was just a lonely girl like herself who didn't know how to make friends.

"Hmph...that Coronamon thinks he's so cool..." Terriermon grumbled in a hushed tone as he lay perched on her shoulder, annoyed and trying to burn a hole in Coronamon's head. "I don't like that Gaomon either..."

"Jealous?" Tohru smiled amused.

"I'm not jealous of that guy! He should be jealous of me, I'm way cuter than him!" Tohru stifled a giggle at her partner's obvious jealousy toward Coronamon.

The automatic double doors slid open and in walked Tohma and Gaomon, the former individual sporting a few bruises on his face. He avoided making eye contact with anyone in the room, displaying his obvious embarrassment over letting Masaru's earlier taunting get to him. Both partners were silent, not once speaking a word to anyone.

Tohru happened to catch Rosa glancing over at the blonde occasionally from where she was standing. The tan skinned girl would start to move away from the wall as if she were going to approach Tohma, but each time she performed this action she'd go right back to leaning against the wall's metallic surface.

Things seemed to have settled down after the boxing match between the two rivals. The only sources of noise that could be heard in the surveillance room were Miki and Megumi's fingertips typing away at the keyboards of their computers, the occasional yawn of boredom from Yoshino and a small cough or sniffle from every other DATS agent present. Nobody really knew what to say or talk about, probably wanting to avoid triggering another argument between Masaru and Tohma.

I'm glad they aren't arguing right now, but this is really boring. I almost wish a Digimon would show up-

Tohru's internal monologue was cut short due to the blaring of the alarms piercing through the thick silence that had settled upon them. The entire room began to turn red, only managing to startle her further as she quickly looked around for the source of all the sudden noise. "W-What's going on?!"

Miki and Megumi were pulling up a grid map on their monitors and a set of coordinates. Yoshino, noticing Tohru's alarmed state, rested a hand on her shoulder to calm her a bit. "Its alright Tohru. Its just the alarms signalling a Digimon sighting somewhere in Yokohama."

Tohru sheepishly nodded her head, her body relaxing a smidgen now that she realized this was not a cause for alarm. Breathing a heavy sigh of relief, she glanced up at the large monitors that displayed the location of the current Digimon sighting. Miki announced the exact coordinate in a professional tone that came off as uncharacteristic to Tohru, especially after seeing the way she had fangirled over Tohma. Her tone was more serious, nothing like the feminine and giddy tone she used earlier today.

A small blinking dot could be seen on the grid map, the dot being the Digimon that was sighted. Masaru got to his feet and smirked, itching to take on this new mission. A picture of the Digimon appeared on the monitors, displaying a visual of a PetitMeramon.

"A PetitMeramon? Didn't Tohma already secure that Digimon earlier?" Yoshino questioned and turned to the blue clad male, who nodded his head with an air of alarm. Masaru's smirk slowly began to fade, forest green eyes widening. Unbeknownst to the street fighter, the terrible feeling welling up in his gut was caused by all of his growing guilt.

There had been only one blinking dot when the grid popped up on the large screen, however every few seconds more and more of those dots began to appear. As more dots appeared, the more Masaru's guilt took over every part of him. He couldn't move, only stared up at the monitors as his entire body trembled. "W-What's going on here?!" Judging by the sudden sense of alarm in Miki's tone, something was horribly wrong here.

"T-The Digimon signal is mulitpying! I-Its still increasing!" Megumi cried out in a state of panic, her big brown doll like eyes counting the number of signals that were popping up. Counting up the total number of blinking signals displayed on the grid, a panicked gasp sounded from Miki's throat.

"T-There's almost a hundred of them!" Amidst all the chaos going on in the room, Satsuma and Kudamon remained calm and level headed. The Digimon draped around the man's neck spoke up after taking a few minutes to observe the rapidly growing number of signals. Kudamon, being from the Digital World himself, knew almost everything there was to know about his own species.

"I might be able to explain just what is going on here." Kudamon started as he lifted up his head to gaze around at all the younger DATS members, "It would appear that even if a small amount of PetitMeramon's body remains, it has the ability to develop into more bodies and multiply within a short amount of time." Masaru's muscles tensed, his jaw clenching and his teeth gritted. The street fighter was physically trembling, beginning to realize the growing feeling of guilt in the core of his being.

Kudamon had seemed to notice the street fighter's rising tension because the next words out of his mouth made the auburn haired boy outwardly flinch, "You seem to know something about this...Masaru."

"But..its just strange that they were able to multiply in only a few hours..." Satsuma mused to himself, crossing his arms over his wide chest. Tohma and Gaomon stepped up to the older man and saluted him, the blonde speaking in that professional and no nonsense tone of his.

"Captain! Allow us to handle this!" Tohma requested and seeing as the two silent loners were the perfect team for the job, Satsuma agreed to this and gave him permission to head out. After all, Tohma and Gaomon were boasted to be one of the best teams at DATS. This decision didn't go over too well with Yokohama's local street fighter.

"No way! That thing was originally my target, so I'm gonna be the one to fight it!" Masaru stated, turning his head to his superior as if to ask if doing the mission would be okay with him. Of course, deep down he already knew the answer, but he was far too stubborn to back down now. Tohma strode past him, ignoring the hot headed male and heading out the sliding double doors with Gaomon at his side.

"I'm going too!" Masaru exclaimed as he had begun to turn on his heels and follow the blonde out the doors. Tohru, worried for what her friend might try to do, began to do the same when Satsuma's authoritive voice stopped them both in their tracks. The smaller brunette's body visibly flinched at the scolding tone the Captain's voice took on.

"No! Masaru and Tohru, you two will stay here! Let Tohma and Gaomon handle it this time around." The fighter's fists clenched so tightly his knuckles whitened and every muscle in his body trembled with anger, and a feeling left unknown to everyone else but himself, fear. Fear for how out of control the situation could get and he would be powerless to stop it.

Satsuma then turned his unseen gaze to Yoshino and Lalamon, ordering them to accompany Tohma as the designated driver. (It seems she had been deemed the designated driver of DATS long before Masaru and Tohru even joined), "Yoshino, you and Lalamon go with them to lend your support." The magenta haired teen nodded her head obediently and saluted her superior before she and her flower-bud like partner exited the surviellance room.

With that said and done, Masaru, Tohru, Rosa and their partners reluctantly stayed behind and watch everything that would happen on the monitors.

* * *

><p>Everything had seemed to settle down after Tohma and Yoshino left the DATS building. The remaining individuals in the surveillance room watched what was currently going on at the scene of the Digimon sighting from the monitors. Tohma and Gaomon had no problems at all taking down each of the PetitMeramon they came across and the trunk of Yoshino's car was quickly becoming filled with more and more Digieggs. It was a wonder that there was enough room in there at all as her car was really not that big.<p>

Masaru was unusually quiet, only the occasional curse word or mumble escaping his lips every now and then. Despite her bad first impressions of Tohma and his dog-like partner, they made a great team. The two were synced up with each other in probably the most flawless way possible; even she couldn't help but feel amazed by the sight of the two partners fighting. Of course, Tohma's methods of fighting were far different from Masaru's as he used strategic tactics to get things done as quickly and methodically as possible.

The problem she had with it was, there was no passion in his methods. Whenever she would watch Masaru train, she felt every ounce of his firey determination flowing through his body. Every little face he would make, the way he moved. Sure his method of fighting was as free style as it gets, but the way he fought motivated her. She felt the same passion and love for the sport that Masaru did, and that was why she admired her best friend's strength so much.

Terriermon, who had gotten bored after all of the chaos had finally settled, was perched on top of Tohru's head snoring softly, fast asleep. Rosa and Coronamon hadn't moved from their positions leaning against the wall, their eyes glued to the monitors. Tohru, realizing that she hadn't once even tried to talk to the silent girl, bashfully approached the two while twiddling her fingers and displaying her nervousness.

"Um...I-I never introduced myself to you earlier. I'm Tohru Harima, a-and this is my partner Terriermon." Tohru gestured to the sleeping Digimon on her head. A small bubble was moving in and out of his nostril as he snored soundly. Eyebrows furrowing a bit, Tohru removed Terriermon from her head and gently patted his cheek with the palm of her hand. The slight patting on his face jolted the Digimon awake and the bubble in his nose snapped. His dark eyes were wide for a few brief moments before he relaxed as he realized it was just his partner that woke him up.

"Tohru...what was that for? I was having a nice dream about ice cream.."

Tohru's lips tugged up into a smile that she couldn't control, his groggy mumbling was just too darn cute to resist. "I wanted you to meet Rosa and Coronamon." She turned him around in her arms to face the silent duo, who hadn't said a word the entire time she was standing in front of them.

"...You...don't have to be so formal.." Rosa finally spoke up, her accented voice coming off as sounding slightly annoyed. However, her face held no such sign of feeling any type of irritation in the slightest.

"Ah, s-sorry. I just didn't want to seem rude since you're my superior." Tohru stammered as her nervousness levels began to rise, her cheeks looking a bit flushed the more flustered she became. "Your name is Rosa, right? Who is your partner?" She asked curiously glancing down at the orange colored Digimon standing beside his partner.

"This is Coronamon..." Said Digimon nodded his head in Tohru's direction, acknowledging her presence.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Tohru." Coronamon spoke politely, his tone greatly contrasting with his partner's. Terriermon seemed to notice that the other Digimon hadn't even once looked at him or even seemed to acknowledge he was there, resulting in the rabbit-like creature giving him a small glare.

"Aw! You're so cute!" Tohru cooed gently as she crouched down in front of the orange Digimon and pet him on the head, smiling sweetly and causing Coronamon to blush a bit.

"I..I am not cute." He mumbled, eyes shifting away slightly and avoiding looking at her out of embarrassment. This only seemed to make him cuter in her eyes and she let a small giggle escape her lips, making the Digimon blush more.

She stood up to her feet once more and offered Rosa a friendly grin, sticking her hand out for the girl to shake. "I hope that we'll become good friends, Rosa." Hearing this, the tan skinned girl's muscles stiffened, her intense brown hues softening. Silently, the Spaniard nodded her head slowly and took Tohru's hand in her own, shaking it before drawing it back to cross with the other arm over her chest.

Tohru then walked away after giving the silent duo one last friendly smile, Terriermon sending Coronamon small glares from over Tohru's shoulder. The orange Digimon glanced up at his anti-social partner after returning Terriermon's glares with a dirty look of his own.

"She's really nice, Rosa. I think she'd be a good friend for you..." Rosa scoffed at his words and looked downcast, no longer watching what was occuring on the monitors.

"I told you Coronamon...aside from you...I don't need friends..." She was unaware of her partner's concerned gaze and the little, almost incoherent sigh that escaped his mouth.

Rosa...why won't you open up to anyone...?

"I don't like that Coronamon..." Terriermon mumbled, his stubby arms crossed and his cheeks puffed out, clearly in a pouty mood, "...or Gaomon either. They think they're so cool..." Tohru glanced down at her annoyed partner with a raised eyebrow, one corner of her lips tugged up into a teasing smirk.

"Are you jealous, Terriermon?" Her digital partner puffed his cheeks out more and glanced away from his tamer.

"I am not jealous."

"...Sure you're not." Tohru chuckled, picking her partner up in her arms and giving him a gentle hug. "Don't worry Terriermon, to me you'll always be the best." She cooed and nuzzled her cheek against his. The rabbit like Digimon blushed a bit and nuzzled the girl back affectionately.

"You mean it?"

"Of course." The brunette let out a soft chuckle at her own partner's sensitivity. The fact that he was getting so jealous of Gaomon and Coronamon motivated her to help him become just as strong as they were. But to do that...first Tohru herself needed to become a stronger person.

"Tohru...did that blonde guy hurt you? He said those mean things to you before.." Terriermon gave his partner a concerned glance, to which the brunette hesitated to answer at first. She put on a smile and shook her head in response.

"No, he didn't hurt me. Don't worry, I'm fine Terriermon." She pet his head and glanced back up at the monitors just in time to see Gaomon take down another PetitMeramon. Tohru exhaled a small sigh, unaware of the fact that her digital partner had heard it. Besides...everything he said about me was true...

"Damn it..." The level headed duo tore their gazes away from the screens to glance up at the unusually quiet Masaru. His lips were formed in a tight frown, the corners of his mouth twitching as if he were trying hard to keep his anger in check. Forest green eyes glared up at the footage playing on the monitors and the more he watched, the more the muscles in his body tightened. Another pair of emerald green hues filled with concern and worry studied him, taking in every little twitch of his muscles and every little facial tick.

Tohru turned her body to face her friend more directly, even if the boy was too focused on what was playing on the screens in front of him. A small hand began to drift away from her own body and inch ever so slowly toward the taller male. Half way there, her hand paused and there was a moment of hesitation, before she began to move it once again.

Seeing how hurt he looked, the amount of guilt hidden in those usually passionate eyes, she couldn't stand it. She wanted nothing more than to take his hand and pull him to her, to wrap her arms around his taller frame, to hold him and let him know she was there for him. She wanted her fingers to become enveloped in his warmth when she would take hold of his hand. Just the thought of holding his hand in her own made her cheeks feel warm and she was sure she was starting to blush, but that didn't matter to her. What mattered right now was making sure her best friend was okay.

"Do you see it now? This is the difference in strength between you and Tohma." Kudamon remarked, his tone holding a hint of harshness. Masaru noticeably flinched at the Digimon's tone and his body seemed to relax for just a moment. It was long enough for Tohru's fingers to gently brush against his unclenched hand, but before she could go any further Masaru turned on his heel and ran out of the surveillance room. In that brief few seconds, Tohru had noticed the boy's hurt expression, like he'd been kicked while he was down. Agumon called out for his partner and began to give chase after the boy.

Satsuma stood up to go after Masaru, but Kudamon's words stopped him before he could move from his desk. "No...we should let him be.." Tohru gazed at the spot where her best friend had just been standing, silently regretting that she hadn't taken his hand and consoled him. She drew her arm back to herself and turned to her superior, now regretting even more what she was about to do.

"I-I'm sorry sir...b-but I'm going after him! E-Excuse me!" Tohru stuttered out in a nervous panic, her voice cracking as she saluted him and quickly gave chase after her long time crush. She knew she was going to be in heaps of trouble for doing this, but she was only doing what she felt was right. That was to see what was wrong with her best friend. Satsuma made another move to stop her, but gave up and looked over at the silent duo that remained. His lips parted to give her an order, to go after the other two and make sure nothing happened to them.

Before he could say anything, Rosa left her spot against the wall and walked up to the Captain's desk with Coronamon loyally following suit. She raised her arm up in a salute and calmly spoke in a quiet, bored drone. "Captain, I request permission to go after them and make sure the idiot doesn't do anything stupid. I doubt that Tohru will be able to handle it on her own.." Coronamon glanced up at his partner, giving her an apprehensive and scolding look.

She knows just how to draw people away from her...I wish she'd be a bit friendlier...

"...Permission granted." As soon as these words left Satsuma's mouth, Rosa nodded and ran out the double doors with Coronamon following silently behind his partner. The Spaniard was quick to catch up to Tohru, reaching out and grabbing the girl's arm to stop her in her tracks.

As Tohru was running, footsteps were coming up fast behind her and something grabbed onto her wrist. The force made her skid a bit and she glanced over her shoulder at Rosa, who had a surprisingly strong grip on her wrist.

"Where are you going..? Why did you run out like that..?" Rosa questioned, no amount of emotion displayed on her face, however her tone held a slight hint of irritation.

"I-I'm going after Masaru. Something's wrong with him and I need to see if he's okay." Tohru responded, voice shaky as she desperately tried to pull her arm from the shorter girl's grasp. If she didn't, she might not be able to catch up to Masaru and she might lose sight of him.

"Why should that be any of your business..? If he's got a problem, let him fix it on his own..."

"..Its because he's my best friend and I care about him. If something is bothering him, as his close friend, I should know about it so I can be there and show him my support. That's what friends do for each other..." Tohru explained, emerald eyes pleading for Rosa to let go of her wrist. The tan skinned girl went quiet and slowly released Tohru from her grasp, her arm falling to her side as she watched the green clad girl run off down the long tunnel.

"...Rosa..?" Coronamon noticed the uncomfortable silence that had fallen over his partner, glancing up at her with concern. "...I think you should be friends with her...she's trying really hard to be there for Masaru, even if he is an idiot...she could be there for you too."

Rosa didn't say anything, instead she started running down the tunnel again. Coronamon breathed out a small sigh and caught up with her, running at her side and occasionally glancing up to study her face. To see if there was any sign of an emotion showing, but there was none. She remained emotionless. He wanted to know what was going on within Rosa, to know her inner conflicts and struggles. He wished she would open her heart up to him, and to others.

* * *

><p>Tohru and Terriermon finally managed to catch up with Masaru and Agumon, the latter still chasing after his partner. The yellow lizard kept calling out to the fighter, but Masaru kept getting further and further away. Something was wrong, there was something bothering him. Tohru was always able to tell when there was something on Masaru's mind, she'd known him since she was a little girl after all.<p>

"Aniki! Wait!" Agumon called out again, but his words had no affect on the fleeing boy.

"Shut up!" Masaru shouted, desperation in his tone as he continued to run away from his digital partner. He wanted to be alone, but why? He wasn't one to run from others when he was upset, he confronted them directly. He didn't run from his problems, he faced them head on. "Just leave me alo-" Before the auburn haired boy could finish, he tripped over some gravel and fell face first into the concrete.

"Masaru!" His name left her lips the moment he hit the ground and she was rushing to his side, putting a hand on his back as he got onto his knees. His head was downcast, forest green eyes staring at the ground and his body trembling. "L-Listen, I know you're angry at Tohma and you have every right to be. H-He was being a jerk to us and-"

"It's not him I'm mad at!" Masaru's words cut her off and he struggled to his feet, not once looking at his childhood friend or Agumon. "I'm mad at myself..." Those words lingered in Tohru's mind, emerald hues helplessly watching his back as he walked out of the tunnel and into the daylight of the afternoon.

"Aniki..." Agumon stumbled a bit as he went to go catch up to the taller boy, leaving Tohru standing in the same spot and pondering over Masaru's words.

He's mad at himself...? It confused her; Masaru was acting so out of character, he never usually doubted himself or his own abilities. It was then that Tohru recalled a moment earlier today when Masaru had been complaining about how the PetitMeramon was able to get away from him. Then she began to recall what happened when they found out about the flame Digimon multiplying. Kudamon had glanced over at Masaru as if he seemed to know that the boy had been the cause of this.

Guilt. It was guilt that was overtaking Masaru right now. He felt an overwhelming amount of guilt because of his own wreckless actions.

Tohru snapped out of her train of thought and followed Masaru out into the sunlight, squinting and shielding her eyes the moment she stepped out of the shade of the tunnel. "Masaru..?" She spoke softly as she tried to locate her friend, spotting him right ahead of her. He was standing beside an old man who was trying to light a fire and cook a fish, probably one that he had caught himself. He appeared to be a man who enjoyed the art of fishing.

"Tohru...why is there an old man cooking fish out here?" Terriermon whispered in the girl's ear.

"Honestly, I have no idea..." Tohru whispered back, shrugging her shoulders and walking over to where the old man was sitting. He had a makeshift barbaque set up with an uncooked fish placed on top. He was fanning the flames under the fish, trying to feed them enough oxygen to grow into bigger flames. Who was this old man anyway, and why did it seem like Masaru knew him?

"Old man! What're you doing out here in a place like this?" Masaru questioned curiously as he crouched down a bit, putting his hands on his knees to support himself.

"You know this man, Masaru?" Tohru asked with a raised brow. Masaru glanced up at her as if just realizing she was standing there.

"He's the one who gave me my Digivice. Though...I don't really know his name." Tohru blinked and shook her head a bit, turning her attention back to the old man. A chuckle was heard rumbling from the older man's throat.

"To answer your earlier question, Masaru, I'm making a fire." He answered before glancing up at Tohru. "Who's your little friend?" This caught Tohru off guard and her body stiffened.

"I-I'm Tohru Harima, sir.." She stuttered as the blood rushed to her cheeks. The elderly man chuckled at Tohru's flustered state and went back to fanning the flames.

"As I was saying, its quite a pain that the wind keeps blowing out the fire...but once I make the flames bigger they won't go out no matter how much the wind blows." The old man smiled knowingly. The more he fanned the flames, the more they grew and the brighter they began to burn.

Tohru caught Masaru staring into the flames with an intense and concentrating gaze. She could tell that the gears in his head were beginning to turn. Her own emerald hues turned back to the flames and she too stared intently, her mind slowly beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together just as he was.

"Fire is an interesting thing, isn't it...?"

That clever old man...He'd just given them the answer they'd been searching for. As if a lightbulb had just gone off above Masaru's head, he stood up straight with newfound determination blazing in those passionate eyes.

Rosa and Coronamon exited the tunnel and ran up to the other two teenagers, panting a bit since she was out of breath. Her brown hues glared at the back of Masaru's head, no doubt calling him a long string of curses in her native tongue in her mind. The three teenagers flinched when they suddenly heard voices in their ears, quickly removing their earpieces and staring own at the small communicators.

"Tohma! Digimon Signal in Area-B42!" Satsuma's voice sounded through the communication devices. Tohma's alarmed voice was the next to be heard responding back to their superior.

"What?! Aren't there gas tanks over there?!"

Tohru's emerald eyes widened as a sense of panic overtook her and she locked gazes with the auburn haired boy standing beside her. Both teenagers thinking the exact same thing; if the PetitMeramon were to attack the gas tanks...

Oh shit.

Masaru pressed the small button on the side of the earpiece and shouted into the speaker, "Leave it to us!" Despite Yoshino and Tohma's protests for him not to interfere and to stay where he was, he looked to Tohru and Rosa with a firey gaze and a determined grin playing at his lips. "Let's go!"

"R-Right!"

"Wait, what?! You seriously think you'll be able to beat them?" Rosa asked putting her hands on her hips and glaring up at the taller boy. Masaru was unaffected by her glares and nodded his head, showing off his pearly whites.

"Yup! So don't try to stop me, pipsqueak!" With that, he grabbed Tohru's wrist and took off running while tugging his best friend along beside him. The green clad girl stumbled a bit and began running to catch up with him. A string of Spanish words could be heard from a good distance behind them, all coming from the mouth of the angry little Spaniard they'd left in the dust.

"I'm gonna strangle him when I get my hands on him!" Rosa growled and high tailed it after the other two teenagers, Coronamon following after her with a sigh leaving his lips. "Get back here, Daimon!"

"Masaru! Tohru! Rosa! I can't allow either of you to do this! It's too dangerous!" Satsuma's commanding and booming voice shouted through the earpieces. As he was running, Masaru held the small device up to his lips and responded back.

"Whatever, just watch! We can handle this!" Before Satsuma could get a chance to yell at the boy, he turned off the communicator and put it back on his ear. Tohru prayed that the three of them wouldn't be in trouble once this was all over. Within a few minutes, the three teenagers and their partners arrived at the area of the Digimon sighting. Flying playfully and dangerously close to the gas tanks were several PetitMeramon.

Masaru let go of Tohru's wrist, as much as she didn't want him to, and turned to Agumon. "Agumon! Use Baby Burner on them!" This earned him a questioning look from not only his partner, but from Rosa and Coronamon as well.

"Idiot! Are you crazy?!" Rosa shouted as she stomped over to the taller boy and reached up, grabbing hold of his cheek and tugging on it hard. "If you do that, you'll blow us all up to high heaven! Do you even think with that brain of yours?!"

"Ow! Ow! Hey let go you little-" This only made Rosa tug harder on his cheek, but she ceased the moment Tohru hand wrapped around her wrist and slowly pulled it away from Masaru's face. Her emerald hues gazed sternly at the shorter girl and she shook her head.

"Its okay, he knows what he's doing. Just give him a chance, Rosa.." The Spaniard tugged her arm out of Tohru's grasp and crossed her arms over her chest in a pout.

"Fine..." Rosa mumbled, glaring at the taller boy while Tohru urged him to continue. Masaru smiled down at his best friend and turned back to the yellow lizard, his hands tightning into fists.

"Now, Agumon! Baby Burner!"

"B-But Aniki...my attacks won't work on them..." Agumon began to protest, now at a loss of what to do. His tamer wasn't going to have any of this hesitation crap.

"Just do it!" The intensity in Masaru's fierce gaze was enough to make Agumon comply and the yellow lizard began to shoot small fireballs from his mouth, hitting one of the flame Digimon. It seemed to have no effect, however. "Keep going!" Still unsure of how this would do any good, Agumon continued to blast more fire from his mouth at the PetitMeramon. The continuous flame blasts caused the flame Digimon to mold together, creating one larger PetitMeramon. Tohru watched as the single flame began to evolve and became Meramon, a flame man type of Digimon with stitches on the sides of its mouth and intimidating blue eyes.

"...So that's what you were trying to do...you were making it evolve so there was only one single Digimon left to fight." Rosa muttered, having realized what it was that Masaru had been planning. "I had no idea you could actually be clever, hot shot." The Spaniard teased with a smirk playing on her lips as she took out her red and white Digivice. Tohru's lips tugged up into an admiring smile, unclipping her green and white Digivice from her belt.

"Yeah. See? I told you I could handle it." Masaru smirked pridefully and turned to the fire Digimon, wagging a finger at him to egg him on. "Bring it!" Meramon snarled at the boy's taunts and got ready to attack the trio. "You know, I realized something when we were talking to the old man back there...sure, when wind blows against a flame, it goes out...but..." Meramon went in for an attack, swinging its large hand down to swipe at them. "...once you fuel the fire it bursts into flames...and.." He paused with a smirk playing on his lips, forest green hues blazing with firey determination as he jumped and with his fist raised he punched right through Meramon's large palm.

His orange Digisoul burned bright around his fist and he landed a good distance back from the fallen Meramon. "...and once the flame gets going, nothing can stop it from burning stronger than ever!" Tohru gazed admiringly at his back, her cheeks flushing. She realized what had been going on with Masaru before after thinking about his words more carefully.

Tohma had been the wind that blew out his fire, but once he got his determination back the flames in his soul began to burn bigger and brighter than ever. There was nothing that would make his fire go out now, not even Tohma.

Just as this happened, Yoshino's car skidded to a halt and the occupants quickly climbed out in time to see Masaru activate his Digisoul. The hot blooded boy put his hand over his Digivice, the wisp of orange data feeding into the device. Agumon began to glow brightly as he felt his tamer's power deep within his core. The yellow lizard grew bigger, more T-rex like in appearance, his body becoming an orange color with blue markings all over.

Tohru stared up at the large dinosaur Digimon awestruck, it was the first time she had ever seen Agumon's Adult level. He was really cool looking! She looked to her own partner and exchanged enthusiastic glances before a green wisp of data appeared over her heart, then surrounding her hand. She charged up her Digivice with her own Digisoul, allowing Terriermon to reach his Adult level, Gargomon.

"Don't think I'm gonna let you guys have all the fun." Rosa's lips curved into a small smirk as she tightened her hand into a clenched fist and her red Digisoul burst forth, burning bright. She charged up her own Digivice and Coronamon began to change shape and size, becoming a large orange lion with wings protruding from his back. His glorious mane was a bright yellow and adorning each of his legs were metal bracelets. Flames were shooting out of the bracelets and the head piece attached to his head, as well as his tail. "Let's do this, Firamon."

The lion nodded his head at his partner and gave Meramon a fierce, intimidating glare. Gargomon narrowed his eyes at Firamon and cocked his vulcans at Meramon. "Let's put out the fire!"

Tohru groaned at Gargomon's awful pun and chuckled at how corny it sounded. Tohma stared up at the large flame humanoid, mouth hanging open in disbelief. "He...he made the flames bigger to make it evolve on purpose..." He couldn't believe that Masaru, of all people, had been the one to think of this! Tohma himself hadn't even thought of doing that!

The three Adult level Digimon faced off against Meramon. Both of the flaming humanoid's arms began to flare up and he swung his large fists down on the smaller of the three. Firamon leapt out of the way and Gargomon quickly jumped up into the air and starting shooting right into Meramon's face. He howled in pain and swiped at the smaller Digimon, knocking him away.

"Gargomon!" Tohru cried out as her partner went flying, but was caught by GeoGreymon. Gargomon thanked his friend and hopped back onto the ground, bracing himself for the next attack. Firamon began to focus his power into the gem on his headpiece and unleashed a powerful fire blast right into Meramon's chest. More howls of pain were heard from Meramon before he growled and went in to attack again but came face to face with GeoGreymon. The t-rex Digimon opened his mouth wide and released a large fireball, his Mega Burst attack, right into Meramon.

Meramon roared in pain before he disappeared, a bunch of Digieggs dropping to the ground. The three Digimon de-evolved back into their child forms, celebrating their victory. Tohru cheered and looked to Masaru excitedly, who gave her a thumbs up and a wink. "See? Nothing to worry about! I had this taken care of!"

"Yeah, yeah. You did good, Daimon. Though I can't help but think this was all a fluke." Rosa commented as she waved him off, scoffing and walking over to an egg and picking it up. The Digimon began to help gather up the eggs and put them in the trunk of Yoshino's vehicle. Masaru narrowed his green eyes at the Spanish girl, sticking his tongue out at her before helping out with collecting the eggs. Tohru breathed out a sigh, shaking her head as a smile formed on her lips.

That's the Masaru I know and love...he's got his fire back.

Masaru loaded up another egg into the trunk and turned to Tohma and Yoshino, a cocky grin playing on his lips. "See? I was able to beat the PetitMeramon too." Tohma's cerulean eyes avoided his gaze and he seemed to scoff at Masaru's boasting.

"Don't let it go to your head. You just got lucky is all." His own pride was wounded now and he didn't want to admit that Masaru had actually done something clever. Seeing the blonde's look of defeat, the auburn haired boy's smirk grew wider as his ego skyrocketed.

"Heh, you're just sore because this means we're even now." Masaru taunted the rich blonde some more only to have his ear tugged on by Rosa.

"Quiet you! You're the one that caused all of this in the first place, remember?!" The younger girl reminded him, shooting down his boosted ego some. She let go of his ear and walked over to Tohma, taking the egg from him and putting it in the trunk. A small hint of red tinted her tanned cheeks the moment her fingertips brushed against Tohma's. She then turned to Tohru and took an egg from her as well and placed it in the trunk. "Um..."

"Yes...?" Tohru tensed up a bit, thinking that the Spanish girl was going to snap at her for something she did wrong.

"...Um...I'm...sorry for the way I acted towards you earlier...you were just worried about your friend..." Rosa turned away and got inside the car with Coronamon sitting on her lap. Tohru stared at the younger girl for a moment as a smile ghosted onto her lips.

"Let's just...get back to headquarters..." Yoshino sighed, knowing that all of them were going to be in for quite an earful once they did get back to DATS.

* * *

><p>"I keep telling you, relying purely on brute strength alone without any strategy or tactics will get you nowhere!"<p>

"Heh, you're just being a sore loser now."

"Stop getting such a swelled head, you just happened to get lucky-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Satsuma roared, his voice echoeing off the walls of the entire room and silencing everyone. Everyone noticeably flinched as his booming voice pierced their eardrums, even Rosa, the one who was usually the most composed out of all of them had been affected.

"Yup...its been quite a while since I've heard that thunderous voice of his..." Yoshino commented, already having expected this to happen even before they returned to headquarters.

"Masaru, Tohma. You two need to learn how to get along and work together. So from now on..."

Oh no...he couldn't be thinking of...

"You two, along with Tohru and Rosa, will be a team!" With that sudden announcement, a collective "WHAT?!" could be heard from just about every single individual occupying space in that room.

"I'm not gonna be on a team with him!"

"There's no way I can work with a brute like him!"

Both boys began to protest and argue against this decision, but Satsuma had made up his mind. "I don't want to hear anymore about it. You two are going to be working together from now on...so I suggest you learn to deal with each other."

Amongst all of the protesting and shouting, Tohru remained silent as her chest tightened. Tohma's words from before were being beaten into her brain as if it were a drum. They echoed louder and louder the more she realized she would have to work alongside the blonde boy with no way to avoid being around him.

Being around someone like Tohma made her feel insecure. Inferior.

They would be teammates from now on.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, there you have it! A better, rewritten version of chapter 5! xD Again, I'm really sorry about deciding to do this, but I'm actually a lot more satisfied with it now. Besides, I hate posting something that's half-assed when you all deserve better than that. c: I also decided to go ahead and do chapter six as well so you have some new content to read right after this! <strong>

**Enjoy!**


	6. A Wavering Heart

Finding Strength Within || Digimon Savers/Data Squad

.:: ||Chapter 6: A Wavering Heart|| ::.

**Oh god, I really do not have an excuse for why this took so long. This was just me putting off working on this, though I guess dealing with depression didn't help much. I don't know how long these chapters will take me to work on, but I do apologize for the incredibly long wait. If I've lost readers, I honestly don't blame you all. But to all of you who are sticking with this story until the end, thank you so much! I'm gonna try harder to get chapters out faster with less wait time. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Savers or its characters. Nor do I own Rosa, she belongs to my good friend. I only own my OCs.**

* * *

><p>"You're not fit to work at DATS either-"<p>

'Tohma was right...I'm not fit to be a member of DATS. Why would they even keep me around...?'

"Ms. Harima..." The sound of her teacher's voice echoed through the classroom, but not a word had reached the girl's ears.

'Maybe if I were as strong as Masaru...'

A loud sigh could be heard. "Ms. Harima.." The tone in his voice grew slightly more annoyed than it had sounded just a moment ago. Alas, his words fell on deaf ears. The girl he was attempting to address said nothing, lost in her own thoughts of self pity.

'...Or as smart as Tohma-'

"Ms. Harima!" The moment her teacher raised his voice to Satsuma levels of scary, Tohru jumped up to her feet, being jerked out of her thoughts. The language teacher didn't seem surprised in the least at her lack of attention.

"Y-Yes sir?!" The moment those words left her mouth Tohru came to a horrifying realization that every student, including her teacher, were staring at her. A chorus of giggles and snickers sounded around her, the brunette's cheeks heating up as the embarrassment began to set in.

"Day dreaming again, Ms. Harima? Please pay attention from now on I'll have to start putting you in detention with your friend Mr. Daimon." The language teacher spoke in a tone that almost seemed as if he were mocking her. Which wasn't surprising as he was known for being a huge asshole to his students, according to Masaru. The sneer her teacher gave her caused the humilated teenager to swallow hard and nod her head slowly. "Now, as I was trying to tell you before, please read the first paragraph on page four."

Tohru slowly and hesitantly picked up her textbook as the sounds of cruel laughter never left her eardrums. Her heart thumped in her chest, cheeks burning red as she swallowed the lump in her throat. Hot tears stung her eyes but she desperately tried to hold them back.

Turning to the assigned page and taking a shaky breath of air, soft lips quivering as they parted. However, the moment she started speaking, her own emotions betrayed her and the tears she'd tried holding back began to fall. Tohru's entire body began to shake, salty tears staining the pages of the textbook where they fell.

The teacher rolled his eyes and put up a hand, "Stop. Just...go outside until you're done crying." He gestured to the door with a sigh and a shake of his head. Tohru didn't hesitate to drop her book on her desk and quickly flee from the room. Her classmates errupted into mocking laughter and snickers.

"What a crybaby." Ayumi snidely commented through her snickering, but she quickly shut up when Masaru-the only person in the room who wasn't laughing at Tohru's expense-sent a death glare in her general direction. Masaru, who was actually quiet for once in his life, turned his forest green gaze to the door and helplessly watched his friend's retreating back. Fists clenched tightly, itching to make contact with the teacher's face.

No, he wanted to punch every single individual in this room. Masaru hated them for the horrible way they treated Tohru. Laughing at every little mistake she made or making fun of her weight. He held back his rising anger and resorted to just fantasizing about beating them all up in his mind. Though that didn't seem to calm him, he was still pissed off. The brunet wanted to jump up from his seat and run to Tohru and throw his arms around her, pulling her into his embrace and comforting her.

And if anyone even dared to laugh at him for showing his soft and affectionate side toward a girl he cared so much for, he'd fight them. He'd be damned if he let anyone question his masculinity. He could show a girl he cared for her and still be manly as hell. So, why didn't he do this? Why didn't he just disobey classroom rules and go to the crying girl outside?

He just didn't want to get detention again. But perhaps getting in trouble for going to comfort his friend would be worth it if he could see Tohru's smile.

Meanwhile, a humiliated Tohru stood out in the hallway silently sobbing. She refused to go back inside now that she made a complete fool of herself and gave her classmates even more of a reason to make fun of her. Terriermon had heard all of this from her Digivice. As much as he wanted to come out of the device and console her, he knew he wasn't allowed to. He knew that if he did come out, he'd be breaking one of DATS rules and could get Tohru in trouble. Plus, neither of them could risk other human beings finding out about the existance of Digimon.

But couldn't he break the rules just this once? Just so he could nuzzle against Tohru's flushed cheeks and dry her tears? So he could make funny faces and make her giggle?

"God...I can't do anything right..." Her voice cracked from all the crying. She would dry her tears, but more just kept falling from her tear ducts.

"Tohru...?" She could hear Terriermon's soft murmur from her Digivice and glanced down, hesitantly taking it out from inside her blazer. Looking down at the small screen, she met her partner's concerned gaze. "Don't let what just happened get to you. They're all just big meanies-"

"I-It's not that, Terriermon...I..." Tohma's words repeated themselves over and over in her head, refusing to cease. They echoed loudly, constantly. "I can't stop thinking about what Tohma said to me yesterday..."

"Don't listen to that guy, Tohru. He's just-"

"Terriermon.." She cut the Digimon off again, looking down. Her bangs hiding her eyes from his view. "..What he said was true. I'm not fit to work for DATS. I'm not responsible or indepenent. I depend on Masaru way too much and I let my emotions get the best of me...it's all true."

She waited, expecting her Digital partner to say something back. To tell her she's wrong and that she shouldn't think that way about herself.

All she got in return was silence. Terriermon said nothing, unsure of how he should respond to her words.

The school's bell chimed, the melody echoing throughout the entire building and signifying the end of the long school day. Students filed out of their classrooms and headed for their shoe lockers to go home, or go to their designated clubrooms.

Tohru made no effor to move from her spot, keeping her head down and avoiding making eye contact with anyone who passed her by. She could hear girls whispering about her as they left the room, giggling and making cruel remarks about her. The noise began to grow deafeningly loud. She just wanted to block it all out.

A hand gently grasped her shoulder, bringing Tohru out of her thoughts. Lifting her head up, she met a pair of concerned forest green hues. Masaru kept his hand on her shoulder a few moments longer before drawing it back towards himself, letting it drop to his side. He handed Tohru her bag that she'd left in the classroom, having gathered her things up for her since she didn't come back inside.

The two walked side by side in silence through the crowded and noisy halls. Reaching her shoe locker, Tohru opened the small door only for several crumpled up pieces of paper to come tumbling to the ground. She picked each one up and smoothed them out, already knowing she wasn't going to like what she saw.

Masaru leaned forward to glance at them from over her shoulder. Each piece of paper had an array of insults making fun of Tohru's weight. The more he read, the more his blood began to boil.

"Those dumb bitches...don't worry Tohru, I'll beat 'em up for you." A now enraged Masaru growled, eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. Jaw tightening, teeth gritting, fists clenched to the point his knuckles turned white. When it came to his best friend, anyone who messed with her would get a black eye and a fat lip, regardless of their gender.

Before the taller boy could storm off to track down the girls who hurt his friend, he felt a small tug on his sleeve. Halting from the sudden force holding him back, Masaru glanced down at the smaller girl and quirked an eyebrow at her in slight confusion.

"Please...don't. I-It's okay...I don't want you to get in trouble for fighting again..." Though she put on a brave face, her voice was trembling. She let go of the small piece of fabric and got her sneakers and switched pairs of shoes.

"But Tohru-!" Tohru continued to put on a brave smile and shook her head, which seemed to calm Masaru's rage further. He watched as she turned her back to him and exited the school building. He quickly caught up to her, every now and then turning his concerned gaze to the solemn girl beside him. "Hey...shorty, don't worry about what those stupid girls say. They're probably just-"

Tohru stopped walking, her lip quivering. "It's not that...w-well, I mean-that's not what I was upset about before..." Tohru stammered, tripping over her own words, "It's just that I can't seem to...get those things Tohma said to me out of my head."

This surprised Masaru, as he had just assumed she was upset over being bullied again today. He had completely forgotten about how Tohma's words made her feel. He remembered how much seeing her hurt expression had angered him, so much so that he'd wanted to give Tohma a piece of his mind. It was easy to see that the fighter was very protective of Tohru, for reasons that were pretty obvious to everyone but the girl he cared about so much.

"Don't listen to that arrogant jerk! What he said to you isn't true at all!" The auburn haired boy balled his hands up, growling lowly, "What me to punch him for you?"

She knew he was just trying to protect her, but that was what was hurting her and he didn't realize it. Tohru knew deep down in her heart that depending on him to come to her rescue all the time wouldn't help her confidence issues at all. Despite how happy it made her feel that the boy she loved always protected her, she knew that it was just because she was weak. She couldn't protect herself, not with the way she was now.

"Masaru, it's not what he said that upset me! What got to me is that it's all true! I'm...weak." She turned away and pushed him, not even stopping to wait for the auburn haired male to catch up with her. Raising an arm up to her face, Tohru rid herself of her tears with the sleeve of her blazer. "Can't believe I'm crying over something like this...I'm pathetic."

In her mind, it was a complete mistake to join DATS. She wasn't strong like her teammates were. She didn't have physical strength, she wasn't intelligent, she wasn't cool or confident and she wasn't reliable. If she wasn't any of those things, then what did she have? Clumsiness? Self loathing?

Tohru bit her bottom lip and absent mindedly kicked a small pebble down the sidewalk with each step she took. She didn't want to go to DATS today...not when she was feeling so useless and inferior to her fellow agents.

...

She had no choice. This was her job, whether she was mentally prepared or not.

* * *

><p>Tohru stepped out of Yoshino's car and stared up at the abandoned, sludge covered building their target was located in. The boys had already gone ahead, headed for the basement. Rosa stood at the entrance, hesitant and unmoving. Tohru followed behind Yoshino, finding comfort and sollace by being in the older girl's presence as if she were the brunette's older sister.<p>

She snuck a glance over at Rosa, noting that the younger DATS officer had gone blue in the face as she held her hand over her nose and mouth.

"Ugh...this place smells awful..." Rosa's voice was muffled by her hand as she tried to block out the strange and foul odor.

"Rosa, come on. We have to go inside..." Coronamon gently nudged his partner forward. She grimmaced and wretched when she was fully inside, but she kept moving deeper and deeper inside, following the other two girls.

"I think I'm going to puke..." Rosa mumbled under her hand, "Let's just catch that stupid slug and go home." The Spaniard moaned, feeling nauseated by the smell.

From down the hall, the girls could hear the sounds of arguing and no doubt it was coming from their fellow male agents. What were they fighting about per say? Masaru not wanting to cooperate with Tohma's tactical plans and going into a battle head on. Tohma, having a metaphorical stick up his butt, can't stand this and decides to just go through with the plan by himself. Masaru's hot headedness screws up the plan and the two end up butting heads. Simple as that.

At least...that's what Yoshino's explaination of it was. Tohru did agree that Masaru's actions were never the smartest and he was too hot headed to listen to what people told him to do. She also did think that maybe if Tohma included Masaru in his plans, things would go his way instead of backfiring. Perhaps she was still feeling bitter towards Tohma for when he yelled at her the day before.

"Thos two, I swear..." Yoshino grumbled, shaking her head, "They're going to be the early death of me."

Rosa clicked her tongue, "Huh, didn't know you were that old..." Rosa mumbled under her breath, rolling her brown eyes. Yoshino's head snapped up as she shot the younger female a faint glare.

"What was that?"

"Oh...nothing.." Rosa sang, walking past Yoshino holding her head up high. A smirk formed on her lips and without turning around, she added, "Old hag."

Yoshino's magenta hues widened, shock evident on her features as her jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "OLD HAG?!" Tohru and her partner both sweatdropped as Rosa sprinted down the hall, leaving them and Yoshino behind.

"What is up with that girl?! She's got an attitude problem!" The older girl exhaled sharply and turned to the quiet and awkward looking duo. Sensing Tohru's discomfort, Yoshino cooled down some and her angry expression softened. "Sorry. I lost it there for a moment..."

"I-It's okay, Yoshino." Tohru smiled sheepishly as the two females continued walking at an even pace, "I don't think you're an old hag...you're actually very pretty." It was true that Tohru did think of the older female as being very attractive and she wished she could be just as comfortable with herself as Yoshino was.

The magenta haired girl smiled at the compliment and put an arm around the younger girl's shoulders. "That's why you're my favorite, Tohru." The brunette timidly laughed, a warm sensation growing in her chest. The two girls continued down the dark hall, the voices of their comrades becoming louder.

"Don't get in my way!"

"You're the one who got in our way!"

"Oh gross! Is he flinging his poop at us?!"

Tohru and Yoshino looked at each other, blinking in confusion, and rushed towards the basement where they found their fellow male agents desperately trying to dodge pink...swirly objects being flung at them by the Numemon. Rosa was standing away from them and wretching while covering her mouth and nose with both hands.

"C-Come on Rosa. We have to help them." Coronamon tugged on his partner's arm as he attempted to snap her out of it. She wouldn't budge, however.

Yoshino sighed, shaking her head and glancing over at Tohru. "Guess we have to help them out..Lalamon."

"Right! Nuts Shoot!" Lalamon shot out several seed bullets from her mouth at Numemon, hitting him and causing him to stumble a bit. At least he stopped flinging smelly pink stuff at their teammates.

Terriermon jumped down from Tohru's shoulders and started spinning around, fast enough to create a small twister. "Petite Twister!" The attack knocked Numemon back further, the slug Digimon hitting the wall and ultimately turning back into a Digiegg. Yoshino casually picked it up, giving the two younger boys a smug look.

"What would you two do without us?" Masaru and Tohma's gazes met only for the two to let out a huff and turn away angrily.

"I would have been able to handle it by myself if he hadn't interfered!" Masaru spat, sending glares at his blond rival.

"Please, if you had just followed my plan, we would have succeeded."

"Whatever, Tonma."

Tohma's eye twitched at the mispronounciation of his first name, which he was sure Masaru was doing on purpose just to spite him. "It's T-O-H-M-A."

"That's what I said. TONMA." The auburn haired male retorted back, the corners of his lips tugging up into a smirk.

"You're doing this on purpose now, aren't you?"

Tohru stood nearby, watching the boys argue with each other and a sigh leaving her lips. She wanted to intervene and keep them from fighting, but she knew they wouldn't stop no matter what she said. She was just glad the mission was over...

She walked down the dark hallway beside Masaru, their partners following close behind them and talking about food. The brunette heard a low growl and upon realizing it was her own stomach, she rubbed her tummy.

"You hungry, Tohru? Then let's go eat at my house once we're done here!" Masaru grinned, all traces of anger gone from his features. Figures food would make him forget about his previous rage towards his blond haired rival. "I'm getting pretty hungry myself!" He hadded, rubbing his own stomach and laughing lightly.

"But you're always hungry, Aniki." Agumon commented, making the street fighter argue that the Digimon himself was always hungry too, a pouty expression on his handsome face. Tohru couldn't help but giggle at how cute he looked when he pouted.

The car ride back to DATS headquarters was awkward, to say the least. Not one word was spoken, but the silence was uncomfortable. The air around the two male agents was hostile and no one wanted to trigger another arguement. Tohru, who was seated between Rosa and Tohma in the back, watched the back of her best friend's head with concern.

She understood why he couldn't get along with Tohma, but would it hurt him to at least make the effort to? Though her own relationship with Tohma wasn't exactly any better. Ever since the day before, he hasn't once looked at her or acknowledged her existance. Did he really think she was of no use to DATS?

...Perhaps he did. And it hurt.

* * *

><p>Tohru found herself sitting in Tohma's limosine, sandwiched in between the silent blond and her disgruntled best friend. Terriermon was perched on top of her head, laying on his stomach while Gaomon and Agumon were in their Digivices, much to the latter's displeasure. The silence was just as awkward and uncomfortable as it was earlier. The hostility that lingered over the two boys was so unbearably thick she could feel it.<p>

She didn't exactly enjoy sitting next to Tohma. His words still plagued her mind. Her chest felt so tight and her body grew tense. She didn't dare move an inch or even sneak a glance at him.

She didn't speak a word and she tried to control her breathing, making sure it was a slow and steady. Terriermon could practically feel her anxiety levels rising. He felt her body trembling the more she forced herself to appear invisible. She wanted to hide her presence. She wanted to just disappear at this very moment.

The limosine came to a slow stop in front of the Daimon household and the gray haired butler opened the door for herself and the brunet beside her. Masaru climbed out first, then Tohru stepped onto the sidewalk. Before Tohma's butler could drive off, Masaru gently tapped on the window with the back of his hand.

Tohru raised an eyebrow as the window slid down and Tohma looked up into the fighter's hazel orbs. "Um...thanks for driving us home..." The taller brunet sounded as though it pained him to have to thank his rival. His expression clearly displayed this.

"Don't get the wrong idea. I only did it because Commander Satsuma told me to." Tohma's voice was cold and his tone nothing short of condenscending. Tohru noticed the vein on Masaru's neck pulsating as his anger levels rose.

"S-Still...we're grateful that you drove us home." Tohru spoke up for the first time since they left HQ. Tohma seemed to ignore her, her words falling on deaf ears.

"The Commander is trying to get us to establish a friendship with each other...however, I think it's a waste of time." Masaru's hands clenched, hazel eyes narrowing at the rich blond.

"Like we want to be friends with you anyway!" Tohru didn't speak up this time, sensing that Tohma would end up ignoring her existence. A younger, more girly sounding voice broke the hostile atmosphere when a little girl ran up to Masaru.

Her auburn hair was pulled into two small low pigtails and her seafoam green hues sparkled with childlike innocence, her smile lighting up her face. She was staring in awe at the Norstein family's limosine, as if it were her first time ever seeing one. It probably was. This little girl was Masaru's younger sister, Chika Daimon.

"Masaru-nii, who's your friend?" Chika's presence finally made the blond glance over at his rival. His cerulean gaze met the little girl's, the corners of his lips tugging upwards to form the smallest of grins.

"Nobody you need to know." Masaru crossed his arms, sending Tohma a glare, refusing to introduce his sister to the one person he hated at the moment.

Because it was only a matter of time before Masaru started hating someone else instead.

"I'm his little sister, Chika Daimon. Its nice to meet you!" Chika introduced herself to the genius, her smile being enough to soften Tohma's cold exterior. Tohru had noticed this sudden change in the genius's demeanor.

"Okay, enough flirting with him." Masaru, growing annoyed and impatient, attempted to drag his sister away from his rival.

"Come on! Introduce me to him!" Chika whined and struggled against her brother's grip.

"No! You don't need to meet him!" It seemed there was no way of swaying the younger Daimon sibling away from the limo. A soft, feminine voice broke up the struggle as the siblings glanced over at their mother.

"Oh my, are you a friend of Masaru's? Thank you for driving him and Tohru home. That was very nice of you." Her gentle, motherly tone caused the blond to blush a bit. His cold demeanor was melted away completely. Tohma looked at Sayuri with a kinder gaze, jarringly different from how he looked at her son.

"No, he's not our friend, mom." Masaru denied it, eyes narrowed at the blond boy. His mother seemed to just ignore what he'd said, offering for Tohma to stay for dinner. Of course, Masaru was quick to protest against this idea. Just the thought of sitting at the dinner table with this guy made him almost lose his appetite. Almost.

"I...appreciate the offer, but I'm afraid I'll have to decline." With that said and done, Tohma rolled up the window as his limo drove off down the road.

"Bye bye!" Chika called out to the moving vehicle, waving with a big smile on her childish features.

"See mom? He didn't even want to stay." The street fighter grumbled in complete and utter disdain. In his mind, Tohma wasn't even worthy of eating his mother's delicious home cooked meals.

"Tohru? Will you be joining us for dinner?" Sayuri asked, getting the dazed girl's attention. Tohru snapped out of her thoughts and quietly nodded her head.

"Ye-Yeah..." Her voice trailed off, green eyes watching the Daimon family interact and laugh with each other. They seemed so happy, despite Masaru's father having been gone for years. That didn't stop his family from sticking together. Emerald hues glazed over as solemn thoughts of her own missing parents filled her mind.

'Where are you...mom...dad?'

Just watching the Daimon family look so happy and carefree gave Tohru such a...lonely feeling.

"Tohru? You coming?"

Masaru's voice, laced with genuine concern, broke the girl from her troubled thoughts. The timid brunette nodded, running through the doorway and removing her shoes. Having dinner at her best friend's house was always a treat. The Daimon's house was always clean, nearly spotless. Every time Tohru stepped through the front door, she felt right at home. There was always a wonderful scent in the air, the scent of Sayuri's delicious cooking. Their home felt cozy and warm.

Terriermon jumped down from Tohru's head, curiously looking around at his new surroundings. Tohru figured that Sayuri and Chika already knew about Digimon because of Agumon, so she wasn't too concerned about how they'd react to Terriermon.

"Tohru, where are we?" Terriermon blinked adorably, glancing up at his human partner. This made Tohru's lips form into a smile.

"We're at Masaru's house. He invited us to have dinner here." Tohru explained, walking into the kitchen. Terriermon lifted his head and sniffed the air as he caught up to her. His little feet made a pitter patter sound on the hard wood floor.

"Something smells really good, Tohru!" He chirped, sniffing the air a second time.

Sayuri, upon hearing Terriermon's voice, turned around and spotted him. "Oh! Is this little one your friend, Tohru-chan?" Sayuri crouched down a bit to get a better view of Terriermon. He got shy and clung to Tohru's leg, hiding his eyes with his long ears. "Aw, he's a shy one isn't he?" The older woman giggled softly at his silliness.

"Yeah, this is Terriermon. He's been through a lot so he's a bit reluctant to meet new people." Tohru chuckled, picking the small Digimon up in her arms. "Come on, don't be shy. Mrs. Daimon is really nice. I promise." She cooed in attempts to reassure him. She...still had a lot of questions regarding Terriermon's past fear of humans. Something about it concerned her, however she didn't want to pry the answer out of him.

Perhaps it had to do with something he'd rather not remember.

Terriermon peeked out from behind his ears and Sayuri's smile melted away his shyness. Her smiles seemed to have some kind of magical effect on just about anyone who laid eyes on them. "Hi! What smells so good?" Tohru sweatdropped. That was a fast recovery.

"I made dinner for all of us, Terriermon. Go ahead and help yourself. Agu-chan is already at the table, so hurry before its all gone." Sayuri smiled, moving out of the way to reveal the yellow lizard and his partner already digging into the huge pile of food. Terriermon's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull at the incredible amount of food.

"Don't mind if I do!" In a matter of seconds, Terriermon was at the table next to Agumon, taking anything he could get his little hands on. Tohru's eye twitched while Sayuri nudged the girl over to a chair next to her Digimon. The timid natured girl took what she could manage to get her hands on-and nearly getting her hand chewed off in the process-before she was actually able to dig into the delicious meal. Chika joined the family at the table, sitting beside Tohru who she always looked up to as the big sister she wished she had.

"Hello Tohru nee-chan! I'm so happy you're having dinner with us again tonight!" Chika smiled innocently before her big seafoam eyes traveled over to Tohru's partner, whom was currently stuffing his face with food. "Is he your friend, Tohru nee-chan?!" Chika's eyes lit up with childish wonder as she practically jumped out of her chair and embraced Terriermon in a hug. "He's soooo cute! Like a stuffed animal!"

Terriermon looked clearly displeased and uncomfortable with the treatment he was getting. Tohru couldn't keep herself from giggling at the face he made, he must not like being compared to a stuffed animal. "His name is Terriermon...but uh...I don't think he likes being called a stuffed animal, Chika-chan.."

"That just makes him even cuter! He's even cuter than Agumon!" Chika continued to nuzzle her cheek against Terriermon's, much to his dismay. The yellow lizard became shocked by the little girl's words as tears streamed from his eyes.

"W-What?! I'm cute, right Aniki?!" Agumon questioned in desperation, getting a bit too close to Masaru for comfort.

"What're you kidding? I thought you were a frog when I first saw you!" Masaru retorted back with a mouth full of food.

"Aniki! That hurts!"

Tohru began to laugh harder as the boy she loved and his lizard continued their amusing banter for the rest of the meal. Whenever Tohru had dinner with the Daimon family, she always felt at ease. All her worries and fears seemed to disappear for a little while. Most importantly, she got to spend time with Masaru. However...

...It didn't make the lonely feeling go away.

* * *

><p>Tohru plopped down onto her bed, her head hitting the soft pillow. A soft sigh left her lips and didn't go unnoticed by Terriermon. How could he not? She'd been like this the entire day and it was beginning to worry him. He hopped onto the bed beside his partner, laying on his stomach ontop of her chest.<p>

"Tohru..? What'cha thinking about?" He asked, concerned about her behavior.

Another sigh left her lips, her eyes glued to the ceiling. "I was just thinking about...my parents."

Terriermon tilted his head, eyes blinking in confusion. "Your parents?" Tohru nodded her head, taking her gaze off of the ceiling above her for a second to make lock eyes with the Digimon perched on her chest.

"Yeah...they gave birth to me fourteen years ago. Back then, my grandfather was alive and we were all living here. One day...my parents left me with my grandparents and promised they would come back soon..." Tohru paused, glancing back up and casually petting Terriermon's head. "...That was ten years ago. I..I haven't heard a thing from them since..."

Her voice shook as tears filled her eyes and dripped down the sides of her face. "I keep thinking...what if they never planned on coming back in the first place...?" She began crying softly, but Terriermon snuggled up to her and wiped her tears with his floppy ears.

"That's not true, Tohru. Why would they think of abandoning you?" Tohru sniffled and wiped her eyes as she laid on her side and hugged Terriermon close to her, a smile forming on her lips. She was so thankful to have a friend like him by her side, a friend she could hold when she was feeling upset.

"Terriermon...you're a good friend. Promise...that you'll never go away." Terriermon frowned sadly and nuzzled against her chest, nodding his head in response. He began to realize that her confidence issues went far deeper than just being bullied. He closed his eyes and the sound of Tohru's steady heartbeat lulled him to sleep.

Tohru's eyes slid closed and before she knew it, she was out like a light.

* * *

><p>A loud beeping rang in the teenager's ear, causing her eyelids to slide open and a groan left her lips. All she could see was darkness and Tohru groped around the area in front of her face, feeling for her communicator. She glanced over at her digital clock, the screen reading 4:00 AM. What the hell did DATS want with her at this ungodly hour of the morning?<p>

Pressing the small button on the earpiece, she put it in her ear and emitted a rather groggy sounding "Hello..?"

"We need you here at HQ right away. A Digimon has been spotted!" Yoshino's voice spoke into the other end of the call. Tohru groaned again, cursing whatever Digimon had escaped from the Digital World and interrupted her sleep. She had school in the morning for pete's sake!

"Alright.." Tohru sat up in her bed and swung her legs over the edge of the bed, standing up and sauntering over to her dresser. She ended the call and quickly began pulling on her green spandex uniform. Terriermon had woken up due to the lack of warmth against him and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"Tohru? What're you doing..?"

"We gotta head over to headquarters. A Digimon was spotted.." Tohru explained briefly as she zipped up her uniform jacket and placed her hat on her head. "We gotta make sure to sneak out quietly..or grandma will wake up." She brought her voice down to a low whisper and grabbed her Digivice. Terriermon grumbled and hopped onto her shoulder.

It took the two probably over ten minutes to successfully sneak out as it seemed like every step Tohru made, the floor would creak. Though the fact that this house was quite old probably had something to do with that. She was scared of waking up her grandmother and possibly getting scolded for trying to sneak out in the middle of the night.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her and by the time she made it into the surveillance room at DATS, the other agents were already there. Tohru was out of breath and had to lean against the wall. "S-Sorry I'm late...I-I had to sneak out without waking up my grandmother.." Tohru had managed through her heavy panting, her heart racing at about a mile a minute.

"I'm not surprised you and Masaru would be late. We have a job to do, so if you're so worried about your grandmother then you shouldn't have come at all. Because of you two, we've lost precious time we could have been using carrying out the mission." Tohma scolded her, arms crossed over his chest and cerulean hues giving her a cold stare. His expression didn't change, not even when Masaru growled lowly and stepped toward him threateningly.

Tohru looked downcast, avoiding eye contact with the blonde haired male. She should have known he would have something to say about her tardiness.

"What the hell is your problem?! I don't care what you say to me, but stop bullying Tohru! She did nothing wrong!" The street fighter had grabbed the front of Tohma's shirt, pulling him towards himself and glaring daggers at him.

"You guys, stop it already! You're both acting like children!" Yoshino got between the two male agents and separated them. Thank goodness they had someone like her to keep everyone in check, or a fist fight might have broken out by this point. "So Commander, what's our target this time?" From the tone of her voice, she sounded pretty annoyed. The lack of sleep and having to babysit two bickering teenagers made Yoshino cranky.

Miki and Megumi brought up the data of the Digimon that was spotted, including an image of the target. It looked like a giant purple and white mole with a drill for a nose. "The target is called Drimogimon and it first appeared in the bank that was just robbed. However, that isn't the only robbery that occured within the past few hours so we have our suspicions that it is aiding the robbers." The commander explained, glancing at the agents.

Yoshino took down the coordinates and the five agents headed for her police vehicle. Tohru still felt incredibly uneasy around Tohma and having to sit in the car next to him didn't help things much. She had smooshed herself up against the door in an attempt to put as much distance between them as physically possible. Why did she have to feel like this? If only she could be like Masaru, who is able to just shrug off any insult thrown at him without a care in the world. To say he was simple minded would be a bit mean, but that's exactly what he was. He didn't care what people thought of him, he just enjoyed being himself.

He was comfortable with who he was. Tohru only wished she could feel the same way about herself. The truth, as harsh as it sounded, was that she hated herself and she felt alone in a world where it seemed as though everyone was perfectly comfortable in their own skin. Why couldn't she feel that way too?

"Hey..are you okay? You've been really quiet lately..." An accented voice broke Tohru from her trance, the brunette's head perking up and glancing over at her younger teammate. Rosa, though not expressing it, had sounded concerned for her. Tohru hadn't even realized that Rosa was watching her.

"Um...yeah...I-I'm fine.." Though these were the words that left her lips, her expression and tone of voice practically screamed that she was, in fact, not okay. She put on a weak smile to try and be convincing, but Rosa wasn't buying it. However, noting the emotional state Tohru was in-and because she was too tired to try and argue against it-Rosa didn't push it any further.

She wasn't the only one who was tired as hell though. All of them were, due to the fact that it was an ungodly hour in the morning and they were losing precious sleep because of this damn mission. That could explain why Tohma had yelled at Tohru and Masaru when they were late. He must be as cranky as everyone else was. However, that didn't make what he said alright. Rosa knew this and yet she didn't defend Tohru, fearing that she would end up getting on Tohma's bad side as well.

If she didn't have a huge crush on the guy, she'd lay the smack down on him in a heartbeat.

It wasn't long before the DATS agents arrived at the location where the Digimon was currently. The first thing they could see as they exited the vehicle was a pair of men, one older and taller than the other, carrying bags of money. Trailing behind them was a rather large mole-like creature with a drill for a nose. They knew right then and there that this was their target and that it was, in fact, helping the burglers.

But...why?

Right now, this wasn't the time to be asking why. Now was the time to take action and capture the target. The bank robbers stopped dead in their tracks the moment they saw what they thought was a police car. They dropped the bags of money they were lugging in their hands as Yoshino brought out a megaphone from the car.

"Stop right there!"

"A-Are you the police?!" The older one questioned, though to him they looked like young oddly dressed teenagers.

"We're agents of the organization DATS," Yoshino showed them her DATS badge, "We're here for the Digimon you've got there with you!" The robbers looked utterly confused, mainly because they had no idea what the hell a Digimon was. Yoshino sighed, bringing out her Digivice. "Lalamon, Realize!" Her partner, Lalamon, materliazed from the device and succeeded in freaking out the robbers some more.

Masaru, Tohru, Tohma and Rosa brought out their own partners and the robbers stepped back in fear of the strange creatures. "T-There's more of them?! Run!" They dashed off to a small parked vehicle with Drimogimon close behind. They managed to fit him in the car and were about to drive off when Masaru and Agumon jumped in front of their car. "W-What the hell?! Get out of our way or we'll run you over!" The older robber threatened, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

Even with the car's headlight's flashing in their faces, Masaru and Agumon didn't move. Not even when their teammates were yelling at them to move out of the way.

"M-Masaru! Please get out of there!" Tohru shouted, clutching her digivice to her chest as her heart raced. Green eyes wide in horror, the fear of her best friend getting hurt displayed on her face. "Please! You're going to get hurt!" She gasped out when the car began to move forward only for Masaru and his partner to put all of their weight on the vehicle and keep it from going any further.

"No way am I letting them get away!" Masaru managed as he was using all of his strength to keep the car back. Sure he looked like he was insane for doing this, but he was actually succeeding! Wanting to protect him and Agumon, Tohru raised up her Digivice and brought her hand down on it.

"Digisoul, charge!"

...

Nothing happened. Looking confused, Tohru tried scanning her hand again.

"Digisoul, charge!" Again, nothing. Terriermon was still just himself and wasn't evolving like every other time she did this. Her body quivered as she stared down at her Digivice in horror while her breathing quickened and her chest tightened up. Her face felt hot. Her mind was a scrambled, jumbled up mess.

'Wh-Why isn't it working?! I-I can't...activate my Digisoul...'

Terriermon immediately noticed the horrified look on her face, displaying a worried expression on his round face. He gently nudged her leg to try and gain her attention. "T-Tohru..? Are you okay?" No response. It was as if she'd gone into a hypnotic trance that she couldn't be snapped out of. Her face had flushed red and her body was shaking. "Tohru..?"

"H-Holy shit!" The younger robber let out a high pitched scream as he clung to the older guy sitting next to him. Their car had been completely demolished due to Drimogimon growing in size while still inside the vehicle. The duo just stared wide eyed at the giant mole-like creature, the older guy still gripping the steering wheel.

"We have to lure it toward the docks so it can't have a chance to dig underground." Tohma stepped up to the plate, a plan already forming in his head. "Gaomon, I need you to keep Drimogimon from drilling into the ground and lure him towards the water." The blue dog Digimon nodded and began attacking Drimogimon. The giant purple and white mole cowered as he was constantly assaulted with a barrage of punches. He began to back up and flee to the docks, unaware that this was what Tohma wanted.

Masaru sent a glare over at his rival, not really content with letting Tohma take all the glory for himself. "Agumon, we can't let this rich kid show us up! Let's beat Drimogimon on our own!" He grinned confidently, holding up his fists. Agumon wholeheartedly agreed and the ultimate duo ran after their opponent.

Rosa quietly followed after her teammates, but stopped for a moment to glance at Tohru over her shoulder. Something was wrong, she could tell. Tohru looked scared, like she was about to break down crying. Instead of going to her side, Rosa kept walking despite how much it bothered her to see her teammate looking like that.

"Why didn't you go see what was wrong with her..?" Coronamon questioned his partner, glancing up at her out of the corner of his eye. Her arms were crossed over her chest and although her face was devoid of emotion, her hands gripped her arms tightly. He knew the answer right away just from her body language.

It did bother her, but her fear of getting close to other people prevented her from going to Tohru's aid.

"...I think Pinky would handle it better than I could.." Coronamon let out a quiet sigh at her response. So this was the excuse she came up with? Why couldn't she just admit that she was scared of opening up to others? He didn't press the matter further and they sped off to catch up with their teammates.

"Have a good sleep!" Lalamon sang cheerfully while Yoshino laid the now unconscious robbers on the ground gently. She had used the memory wiper to erase their memories of ever having encountered a Digimon. The older girl glanced over at Tohru, who hadn't moved an inch at all, and approached her.

"Tohru? What's wrong?" Yoshino's voice was more gentle and motherly and she laid a hand on the girl's shoulder.

Tohru's lips quivered and it took her a moment before she could actually manage to speak. "M-My Digisoul...won't activate..." She turned her head slowly to make eye contact with the older DATS agent as tears began to form, "Yoshino, my Digisoul isn't activating! I-I don't know why!"

Yoshino gently rubbed Tohru's back to try and calm her down while using a tissue to dry her eyes. "Tohru, I understand. You need to stay calm, okay? Later on, we can look into the problem and find a way to resolve it. But for now, it'll be okay if you don't participate in the fight." The magenta haired girl was starting to sound like an older sister, and in a way Tohru sort of thought of Yoshino as one.

"Um...o-okay.." Tohru nodded her head as her hands dropped to her sides and she clipped her Digivice back onto her belt. Though she had decided to stay on the sidelines for now, it still bothered her. She just felt so...so...

...So useless.

Tohru followed behind Yoshino quietly toward the docks where Tohma and Gaomon had cornered Drimogimon. Masaru had gotten flung into the water when attempting to punch the giant drill-nosed mole, so when he emerged he was dripping wet. Coupling this with the already skin tight uniform he was wearing, all the blood had rushed to Tohru's face. Of course, Masaru being who he is, didn't seem to care that practically every inch of his toned body stood out now because of the material that clung to his skin.

Tohru felt like she would faint right then and there. She nearly stumbled and fell over, but caught herself and covered her reddened face. The image of her best friend's muscular frame was forever burned into her memory. (Not that she was complaining)

"What are you doing?!" Tohru heard the blonde male's voice shouting and lifted her head up from her hands. Masaru and Agumon were leading Drimogimon away from the docks, which was going completely against Tohma's plan. "You idiot! I was leading him towards the water so he wouldn't have any ground to drill into!" However, Masaru continued to ignore him and do as he pleased.

"Don't tell me what to do!" The fighter retorted back, his cocky attitude starting to rear its ugly head. Though Tohru loved him dearly, even she knew that Masaru wasn't without his flaws. It was the reason he didn't get along with most kids in school, and even the teachers didn't care much for his attitude most days.

"He's ruining my plan...alright, Gaomon. We're changing up our strategy a bit." Tohma spoke to only his Digimon partner as he unclipped his Digivice from his belt. He snapped his fingers and a blue wisp flared around his hand. He scanned his hand over the device, causing Gaomon to glow and evolve.

"Digisoul, charge!"

"Gaomon, evolve! Gaogamon!" The now larger dog Digimon stepped toward Drimogimon with an intimidating glare, sharp canines bared. The mole-like creature cowered in fear and took a step back as Gaogamon prepared a wind attack.

Masaru shot Tohma a glare and ran up to Drimogimon, sending a punch right into his jaw. His Digisoul flared and he grinned overconfidently. "I'm not letting you steal my opponent! Let's do this Agumon! Digisoul, charge!"

"Agumon, evolve! Geograymon!" The T-rex Digimon growled and bared his teeth as he approached the cowering mole. He and Gaogamon stared each other down, both wanting to defeat their opponent before the other could. One shot out a twister of wind from its mouth while the other unleashed a giant burst of flames.

Both male DATS agents watched as their partners attacks hit each other instead of their opponent, as Drimogimon had ducked just in time to avoid being hit.

"The attacks...cancelled each other out?!" Tohma could only stare with his mouth agape as the powerful attacks collided. Before he could command Gaogamon to attack again, a digital portal opened up in the ground and Drimogimon took this as the perfect opportunity to escape. The portal closed up and just like that, their target was gone.

"Damn it! Get back here you coward!" Masaru shouted at the ground, waving his fist and stomping the dirt in anger. Tohma's eye twitched as his anger slowly began to rise.

This was the final nail in the coffin.

"This is your fault! If you hadn't interfered with my plans, we could have captured him!" The street fighter directed his angry gaze at the enraged blond, his clenched fists tightening until his knuckles turned white.

"No way! You're the one who interfered with my fight!"

"That's all you ever think about is fighting! You never listen to anything I say!"

"I would listen, if you had anything worth saying!"

"That's it! I can't work with you!"

"I don't want to work with you either!"

The three females and the Digimon just stood there looking between the two bickering males. Yoshino didn't even bother to step in to stop them since she was tired and didn't want to deal with this. Rosa was growing more and more irritated by the second and was trying her hardest to resist screaming at them. The one to step forward was the one everyone least expected to try and break up the argument.

"S-Stop it!" Tohru's voice rang loudly through the night air, ceasing the arguing for a moment as the two rivals turned their gazes to her timid form. "T-Tohma...I-I don't think its fair to blame all of this on Masaru. He was just trying to help with the mission...m-maybe if you were to include him in your plans-" She was cut off by the angered blond before she could even finish her sentence, his harsh tone causing the brunette to flinch.

"And you! I can't work with someone who can't even do a thing to help out! If you can't handle the responsibility of being a DATS agent, then leave!"

His words struck her hard, piercing through her already fragile heart. Her emerald hues widened for a second before glazing over. Tears began to form and fall down her cheeks. The moment Tohma saw this, all of his initial anger faded only to be replaced with guilt. He realized he'd gone way too far, but it was already too late to take back what he'd said to her. The damage was already done.

In an instant, Masaru's fist connected with Tohma's cheek and sent the blond stumbling backwards, clenching his now swollen jaw. The street fighter's teeth were clenched tightly, fists raised, eyebrows knitted together, forest green hues flaring with rage.

"You asshole! I'm gonna kick your pretty boy ass for hurting Tohru!" Masaru tried to charge at Tohma again, but was held back by Yoshino and Rosa. The latter was shouting in Spanish, which wasn't really helping to calm the boy down.

"Calm down Masaru! Hitting him isn't going to solve anything!"

"Let me go Yoshino! Did you hear what he said to Tohru?!" Masaru argued while struggling against the two shorter girls. It was actually very surprising that they could hold him back considering how strong he was.

"Masaru...Tohma's right...about me." Tohru's quiet voice cracked a bit as her tears flowed more freely down her reddened cheeks. She lifted her head up to meet his gaze, quivering lips pulling up into a sad smile. Masaru's features softened when he saw the broken look in her beautiful emerald eyes. Tohru couldn't stop herself from sobbing where she stood, and she didn't care who saw.

"He's right...I'm...useless..."

* * *

><p><strong>Aaaannnnd I'm ending it there! Oh, I'm so evil! <strong>

**Again, I am so so SO sorry that this took literally forever to update! I've had a lot to deal with since my last update back in July. Depression. Relationship trouble. Breakup. Work. Death in the family. It's been pretty rough, but I'm slowly but surely getting better. I'm so thankful to all of you for the nice comments and for reading my story! It's so awesome to know that there's more Savers/Data Squad fans out there! **

**So let me know what you all think! This chapter focused pretty heavily on Tohru's insecurities and inner conflicts. A lot of Tohru's self loathing was actually inspired by my own experiences with confidence issues and hating everything about myself, especially when I was a teenager. **

**I actually feel pretty bad making her go through all of this, but its for the sake of my story! XD**


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